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MEMOIRS 


O  V 


THE   LIFE 


O  F 


SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE, 


BY     HIS     BEOTHEU 


JOHN     P  .    FOOTE, 


I  long- 


To  hear  the  story  of  your  life,  which  must 
Take  the  ear  strangely. 

SlIAKESrEARE, 


He  whom  nature  at  his  birth 
Endowed  with  noblest  qualities, 
*    -,-:    <-.    =:-.    «    js  nobiy  born. 

COWPKH. 


CINCINNATI: 

ROBERT       CLARKE      &      CO 

PUBLISHERS. 

1860. 


9ZF73J 
F 


ft  I 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight 

hundred  and  sixty,  by' 

JOHN    I*.    FOOTE, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court,  for  the  Southern  District  of  Ohio. 


¥i 


BRADLEY     &.     WEBB,     PRINTERS. 


£ 


in 

en 


PREFACE 


This  Memoir  is  a  record  of  industry,  perseverance 
and  success.  Of  industry  commenced  at  the  ear- 
liest period  of  life  practicable,  and  continued  with 
unwearied  perseverance  until  success  was  achiev- 
ed. 

It  is  a  record  of  a  life  of  moral  purity,  preserved 
amid  extraordinary  temptations. 

Fortified  by  early  instructions  and  examples, 
such  as  are  the  results  of  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity alone,  many  and  strong  temptations  which 
could  not  here  be  recorded,  were  overcome,  and  a 
life  that  mav  be  characterized  as  one  "  without 
fear,  and  without  reproach,"  with  more  propriety 
than  that  of  any  military  hero,  was  the  result. 

The  occasion  which  called  forth  this  record,  was 
the  desire  expressed  by  a  large  number  of  friends 
and  relatives,  at  the  time  of  the  funeral,  to  obtain 
a  knowledge  of  the  early  life  of  one  so  beloved, 
and  one  whose  youthful  years  had  been  uncom- 
monly eventful. 

The  writer  of  the  following  memoir  being  known 
to  have  more  power  of  communicating  such  knowl- 
edge than  any  other  living  person,  was  requested 
to  undertake  the  task,  and  to  place  it  in  a  perma- 


4  PREFACE. 

nent  form,  which  could  be  transmitted  to  his  and 
their  descendants. 

A  compliance  with  this  request  was  promised, 
and  this  work  is  the  result.  !N"o  other  person  pos- 
sessed as  much  knowledge,  not  only  of  the  events 
detailed,  but  of  the  motives,  principles  and  opin- 
ions connected  with  them,  as  the  writer  :  and  what- 
ever may  be  the  character  of  the  style  and  man- 
ner in  which  they  are  given,  the  facts  recorded 
will  possess  peculiar  interest  to  those  for  whom 
this  account  is  especially  prepared. 

Biography  ought  to  be  the  most  instructive  as 
well  as  the  most  pleasing  department  of  our  light 
literature ;  and  a  great  portion  of  our  novels  and 
romances  are  based  on  the  idea  that — admitting 
this  principle — imaginary  biographies,  as  they  are 
generally  made  more  attractive,  may  be  made  bet- 
ter means  of  conveying  such  instruction,  and  illus- 
trating such  principles,  as  their  authors  desire  to 
inculcate  than  correct  accounts  of  the  lives  of  in- 
dividuals. 

To  works  of  this  class,  however,  there  have  al- 
ways been  very  strong  objections,  and  genuine 
biographies  have  always  been  recommended  as 
preferable  means  of  giving  instruction.  But  equal- 
ly strong  objections  may  be  made  to  a  great  por- 
tion of  the  biographies  of  the  eminent  men  of  most 
countries,  in  which  many,  and  those  not  the  least 
attractive,  instances  are  as  demoralizing  in  their 
tendency  as  modern  French  novels;  or  as  a  great 
portion    of  the   dramatic   literature   of  our   fore- 


PREFACE.  O 

fathers,  or  the  Byronic  poetry  of  the  present  day. 
Such  works  as  most  of  the  biographies  of  Kapo- 
leon,  all  those  of  Xelson,  Parton's  of  Burr,  etc., 
etc.,  throughout  all  of  which  runs  a  constant  effort 
to  disguise  or  hide  the  crimes  of  their  heroes  be- 
hind a  veil  of  successful  military  exploits  or  pub- 
lic services  of  any  kind,  are  dangerous  to  youth, 
by  tending  to  inspire  the  idea  that  eminence  and 
fame  will  atone  for  vice  and  crime. 

Faithful  biographies  of  man}'  of  our  American 
merchants,  engineers,  inventors,  artisans  and  art- 
ists would  be  a  valuable  portion  of  our  literature, 
and  they  might  be,  and  ought  to  be,  made  suffi- 
ciently attractive  to  neutralize,  in  some  degree  at 
least,  if  they  could  not  accomplish,  the  hopeless 
task  of  superseding  the  taste  for  military  detail, 
and  the  hero-worship  of  warriors. 

Healthier  sentiments  than  such  details  inspire 
would  be  engendered  by  the  knowledge  that 
might  be  obtained  of  the  progress  of  refinement, 
and  the  spread  of  the  arts  that  carry  on  the  march 
of  civilization.  For  to  make  improvements  and 
discoveries,  as  well  in  the  mechanic  arts — in  every 
thing  connected  with  the  physical  progress  of  so- 
ciety— is  no  less  a  part  of  man's  mission  than  to 
enquire  and  search  out  the  sources  and  the  means 
of  obtaining  happiness  in  that  future  life,  to  which 
all  look  forward  with  hope  or  fear. 

Inventors  of  machinery  and  of  the  methods  by 
which  all  the  powers  of  nature  may  be  made  sub- 
servient to  the  improvement  of  society,  and  the 
1* 


b  PREFACE. 

advancement  of  civilization,  and  by  which  the  re- 
sults of  human  labor  may  be  increased  and  multi- 
plied— enquiries  and  researches  into  all  the  secrets 
of  nature  and  the  resources  of  art — are  the  fulfill- 
ment of  religious  duties  as  certainly  as  the  devo- 
tion of  time  and  talents  to  the  acquisition  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  will  of  God  in  the  study  of  his 
"Word  and  his  works,  and  in  comparing  and  veri- 
fying the  inferences  drawn  from  each.  Thus  most 
of  man's  employment  in  which  mind  and  body 
are  engaged,  if  duly  performed  in  a  true  spirit,  are 
the  fulfillment  of  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of 
men  who  are  accountable  for  the  employment  of 
their  talents. 

!N~ot  only  private  happiness,  but  public  freedom 
is  connected  with  the  combination  of  mental  and 
physical  labor.  The  Northern  serfs  and  the  ne- 
groes of  the  South,  have  lost  their  freedom  by 
their  neglect  of  this  combination ;  and  nations 
that  are  under  a  despotic  and  arbitrary  govern- 
ment are  thus  subjected,  because  easy  pleasures 
and  thoughtless  amusements  have  been  made  the 
business  of  life,  instead  of  its  occasional  relaxa- 
tions, and  of  wholesome  rest  from  its  labors. 

One  of  the  earliest  methods  to  be  adopted  by 
our  Missionaries  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen 
to  Christianity,  and  one  that  would  be  most  effec- 
tive at  the  commencement  of  their  operations, 
would  be  the  exhibition  to  them  of  the  improve- 
ments in  the  comforts  of  life,  made  by  civilized 
men,  through  the  combined  effects  of  mental  and 


PREFACE.  i 

physical  labor.  The  difficulties  in  commencing 
their  labors  may  be  lessened,  and  the  results  hast- 
ened, by  sending  with  them,  as  our  government 
did  to  Japan,  those  specimens  of  the  superiority 
of  Christian  nations  in  the  arts  which  exhibit  the 
power  of  mind  over  matter ;  for  it  is  certain  that 
activity  of  mind  is  called  forth,  and  its  powers  in- 
creased, by  the  researches  to  which  Christian  de- 
nominations are  incited  in  order  to  furnish  proofs 
for  their  peculiar  dogmas. 

Objects  exhibited  to  the  sight,  according  to 
Horace  and  other  authorities,  arc  more  rapid  in 
their  effects  on  the  mind  than  those  addressed  to 
the  ear.  And  those  savage  people  who  exercise 
their  bodies  as  little  as  possible,  and  their  minds 
scarcely  at  all,  cannot  begin  to  receive  instruction 
so  easily  in  any  way  as  by  being  shown  specimens 
of  the  combined  powers  of  each  of  these  depart- 
ments of  labor. 

Foreigners  have  been  much  in  the  habit  of  de- 
manding from  us  an  "American  Literature,"  and 
we  have  seemed  to  think  that  this  unmeaning  and 
unintelligible  demand  required  of  us  some  thing 
to  which  our  attention  should  be  directed.  It 
seems,  however,  chiefly  to  turn  to  the  department 
of  poetry,  which  has  here  little  or  nothing  to  in- 
spire it  different  from  the  usual  sources  of  inspira- 
tion of  English  poetry. 

The  only  distinctive  national  literature — Amer- 
ican, as  distinguished  from  English — if  such  a  dis- 
tinction can  be  allowed— must  be  found  in   the 


8  PREFACE. 

biographies  of  those  men  who  have  given  us  what- 
ever we  possess  of  a  distinctive  national  charac- 
ter. If  we  could  obtain  such  biographies  of  emi- 
nent Americans  as  the  delightful  autobiography  of 
Franklin — they  would  be  as  good  contributions  to 
American  Biography  as  that  department  of  liter- 
ature could  furnish.  The  contrast  seen  in  the 
continuation  of  these  memoirs  with  the  commence- 
ment, is  one  of  the  best  exemplifications  of  the 
difference  in  the  interest  excited  bv  the  different 
modes  of  telling  a  story. 

Irving's  Life  of  Washington,  Spark's  various 
biographies,  particularly  that  of  Gouverneur  Mor- 
ris, and  some  of  Hunt's  American  Merchants,  and 
others  by  different  authors,  are  valuable  portions 
of  an  "American  Literature,"  and  will  have  a  good 
influence  on  the  minds  of  vouth.  The  tendencv 
of  such  literature  ought  always  to  be  to  strengthen 
our  love  of  free  institutions,  which  cannot  be  main- 
tained except  in  virtuous  and  enlightened  com- 
munities. To  contribute  to  such  a  result  ought  to 
be  the  chief  end  for  which  we  should  endeavor 
to  establish  a  distinctive  "American  Literature." 
Many  more  biographies  might  be  written  with 
this  tendency,  and  in  such  works  the  highest  order 
of  talent  ought  not  to  be  confined  to  the  memoirs 
of  those  in  the  highest  stations.  "  Peter  Parley's 
Recollections  of  his  Life,"  are  a  more  valuable 
contribution  to  "American  Literature,"  than  such 
"Lives"  as  those  of  John  Randolph,  Thomas  Jef- 


PREFACE.  9 

ferson,  and  others  who  have  held  high  political 
stations. 

AVe  do  not  need  either  the  usual  commemo- 
rative funeral  panegyrics,  or  French  "eloges;" 
nor  is  what  is  needed  in  our  Literature  mere  at- 
tempts to  rescue  our  sages  and  heroes  from  tho 
fate  of  those  who  lived  before  Agamemnon;  but 
it  is  to  preserve  for  continual  use  those  examples 
which  exhibit  human  nature  and  human  actions 
in  their  brightest  light;  in  such  a  light,  namely, 
as  may  show  the  path  to  progressive  improvement 
in  human  manners  and  morals,  and  incite  the 
young  to  tread  that  path.  And  the  power  to  do 
this  is  not  confined  to  the  records  of  the  great  and 
powerful,  but  may  be  exhibited  in  those  of  persons 
in  any  station. 

The  greatest  powers  of  narration  have  general- 
ly been  devoted  to  the  men  of  the  highest  political 
and  military  standing,  and  such  can  most  easily  be 
made  to  convey  the  sentiments  of  the  biographer. 
It  is,  however,  a  lower  order  of  genius  and  tal- 
ents that  can  excite  attention  to,  and  interest  in, 
those  dazzling  flashes  of  light  that  emanate  from 
the  records  of  victories  and  the  triumphs  of  elo- 
quence, than  that  which  can  give  attractive  rec- 
ords of  those  peaceful  and  quiet  efforts  of  indi- 
viduals in  more  retired  life  for  the  good  of  society 
— of  lives  which  seem  to  flow  modestly  on  in  quiet 
obedience  to  the  rule  of  our  Savior,  not  to  perform 
our  duties  to  the  sound  of  a  trumpet. 


10  PREFACE. 

The  influence  of  records  of  characteristic  human 
actions  is  great;  provided  such  record  be  judi- 
ciously made,  and  the  true  light  in  which  they 
should  be  seen  made  to  illuminate  them. 

If  it  should  be  thought  that  in  the  following 
narrative  greater  powers  have  been  needed  to 
make  it  sufficiently  attractive,  in  order  to  render 
it  useful,  I  can  only  say,  that  "  if  to  do  were  as 
easy  as  to  know  what  were  good  to  do,  chapels 
had  been  churches,  and  poor  men's  cottages  prince- 
ly palaces.  I  can  easier  teach  twenty  what  were 
good  to  be  done,  than  be  one  of  the  twenty  to  fol- 
low my  own  teaching.'* 

Cincinnati,  October  1st,  1860. 


CONTENTS. 


VPTER    1. 

Parentage,         .... 

.     13 

"           2. 

Early  life  and  kindred, 

27 

<:           3. 

Education,         .... 

.     39 

"           4. 

Mogadore, 

57 

"           5. 

The  Embargo, 

.     71 

6. 

The  War, 

82 

"          7. 

ITCj  ctUtJj                 •                  •                 ■                 •                  • 

.  108 

"          8. 

Buenos  Ayres, 

123 

«           9. 

Madame  Ballina, 

.   142 

«         10. 

Peru,      3 

149 

"        11. 

Cincinnati,         .... 

.  169 

"        12. 

Agriculture  and  Horticulture, 

187 

"        13. 

New  Haven,      .... 

.  200 

"       14. 

The  last  of  earth, 

219 

APPENDIX 


1.  Eli  Footc, 227 

2.  Ebenezer  Foote, 230 

3.  To  Chapter  V 240 

4.  The  Semi-Colon  Club, 242 

5.  Captain  Symmes, 288 

G.  Gen.  Harrison,  293 

7.  Notes  and  Reflections, 296 


31  E  31  O  I  K 


0  F 


SAMUEL    E.   FOOTE. 


CHAPTER    I 

PARENTAGE. 


"Tis  to  the  virtues  of  such  men,  man  owes 

His  portion  of  the  good  that  Heaven  bestows." — Cowper. 


In  the  ordinary  intercourse  of  society,  we  occa- 
sionally  meet  with  men  whose  genius  and  acquire- 
ments, regulated  by  sound  common  sense,  and  sub- 
jected to  the  control  of  rigid  integrity,  elevate 
them  above  their  fellows,  and  command  the  re- 
spect and  esteem  of  all  with  whom  they  associate 
— men  in  whose  behalf  we  never  invoke  a  consid- 
eration of  their  genius  and  talents  to  cover  de- 
fects in  their  character  and  conduct.  AVe  love 
and  esteem  them,  however,  chiefly  for  their  pri- 
vate virtues  and  genial  natures,  rather  than  from 
any  consideration  of  their  superiority  to  a  large 
proportion  of  those  whose  biographies  comprise 
the    most   interesting   and    useful  portion  of  the 


14  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

history  of  nations,  and  whose  names  are  mem- 
orials of  important  events  in  the  annals  of  man- 
kind. 

When,  however,  we  meet  with  such  a  character 
in  private  life,  we  cannot  help,  in  consideration  of 
its  superiority,  wondering*  how  it  happens,  that 
in  a  country,  under  such  a  government  as  ours 
where  personal  character  and  not  birth  and  favor- 
itism are  the  qualifications  looked  for,  (in  theory 
at  least,)  in  making  choice  of  men  to  guide  and 
direct  its  destinies — to  watch  over  the  welfare 
of  its  inhabitants,  and  to  establish  its  standing 
anions;  nations — that  such  men  should  not  be 
called  to  assume  higher  duties  than  those  of  pri- 
vate life  in  its  ordinary  vocations.  We  are  fre- 
quently disposed  to  regret  the  loss  to  our  country 
of  the  services  their  superior  talents  might  render 
it,  for  we  think  them  to  be  men  whose  intelli- 
gence, good  sense  and  integrity,  might  save  the 
nation  from  the  evils  (to  some  of  which  we  shall 
refer  hereafter)  to  which  it  has  been  subjected 
from  the  want  of  such  qualities  in  its  rulers.  We 
consider  it  a  public  misfortune,  that  the  theory  of 
our  institutions  in  relation  to  the  choice  of  public 
agents,  has  not  been  carried  out  in  practice,  and 
that  the  highest  qualities  in  personal  character 
have  been  too  much  neglected,  or  not  appreciated. 
We  observe,  indeed,  that  these  comparatively  ob- 
scure persons,  to  whom  we  refer,  contribute  largely 
to  the  happiness  of  those  connected  with  them  by 
the  ties  of  kindred  or  friendship,  and  to  the  silent, 


PARENTAGE.  15 

quiet,  improvement  of  society  in  taste,  in  refine- 
ment, and  in  morality.  The  benefit  of  their  exam- 
pies  of  integrity  and  persevering  industry  in  bus- 
iness— of  their  refusal  to  submit  quietly  to  the 
domination  of  evil  fortune,  and  of  courageous  re- 
newal of  their  conflicts  Avith  adversity  when  it 
strikes  them  down,  instead  of  endeavoring  to  drown 
the  sense  of  their  disappointment  by  intoxications 
or  any  other  form  of  suicide,  are  felt  by  society, 
and  speed  the  progress  of  civilization.  Thus. 
though  Ave  regret  the  loss  of  the  talents  and  labors 
of  such  men  in  cabinets  and  legislatures,  we  have 
reason  to  be  thankful  for  the  amount  of  private 
happiness,  and  of  unostentatious  aid  to  the  pro- 
gress of  their  country,  in  all  those  tilings  that  in- 
crease the  happiness  of  domestic  life,  which  they 
bestow  on  the  communitv. 

The  substitution  of  such  men  for  the  dema- 
gogues and  intriguers  who  so  often  usurp  the  pla- 
ces, which,  according  to  the  theory  of  our  govern- 
ment, belong  only  to  the  most  worthy  and  most 
capable  of  our  citizens,  would,  as  every  one  per- 
ceives, tend  to  the  promotion  of  the  public  welfare 
and  the  stability  of  our  free  institutions.  The  do- 
mestic sacrifices  thus  required  would,  in  many  in- 
stances, be1  great,  but  the  fact  that  our  country 
has  need  of  them,  ought  to  overpower  all  merely 
personal  considerations,  for  that  this  need  is  con- 
stantly increasing,  is  very  manifest.  The  theory 
'of  political  economy  in  relation  to  demand  and 
supply,  does   not  appear  to  be  applicable  to  the 


16  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

demand  of  our  country  for  an  increased  supply 
of  wise  and  virtuous  legislators  and  magistrates, 
which  is  constantly  increasing,  while  the  supply 
is  diminishing. 

The  paramount  want  of  our  country  is  not  a 
constant  increase  of  territory,  but  an  increase  of 
men,  competent  to  the  judicious  direction  of  the 
affairs  of  the  territory  we  already  possess,  and  an 
increase  of  knowledge  and  public  virtue,  sufficient 
to  cause  such  men  to  be  properly  appreciated. 

The  true  wealth  and  the  source  of  permanent 
prosperity  of  our  nation,  as  well  as  every  other, 
consists  in  the  j^ossession  of 

"  Men,  high  minded  men, 
Men  who  their  duties  know." 

It  consists  in  the  possession  of  a  competent  num- 
ber of  such  men  as  the  subject  of  this  memoir. 

Samuel  Edmond  Foote,  the  fourth  son  and 
eighth  child  of  Eli  Eoote  and  Eoxanna  Ward,  his 
wife,  was  born  at  Guilford,  Connecticut,  on  the 
second  of  October,  1787.  His  Grandfathers,  Dan- 
iel Foote,  of  Colchester,  and  General  Andrew 
Ward,  of  Guilford,  were  both  descendants  of  the 
early  puritan,  pilgrim  fathers,  of  "New  England; 
whose  principles  they  maintained,  the  former  with 
that  extreme  "rigor  and  solemnity"  which  char- 
acterized that  class  of  men  who  never  did  wrong 
(consciously)  themselves,  nor  pardoned  wrong  do- 
ing in  others  ;  the  latter,  equally  free  from  sin  or 
crime  himself,  was  of  so  kindly  and  benevolent  a 


PARENTAGE.  17 

nature,  that  he  was  as  ready  to  grant  forgiveness, 
when  asked,  as  to  ask.  as  he  did.  for  forgiveness, 
in  his  daily  prayers. 

The  former  was  the  author  of  a  treatise  -on 
Original  Sin,1'  written  to  edify  his  descendants  in 
the  puritan  faith,  but  was  not  published.  The  lat- 
ter wrote  and  published  a  somewhat  voluminous 
pamphlet  on  the  dissensions  in  the  old  Presbyte- 
rian congregation,  in  Guilford,  which  resulted  in- a 
separation,  and  the  establishment  of  a  new  sect, 
denominated  "Xew  Lights, "'  and  the  building  of 
a  new  meeting  house,  which,  after  a  few  vears. 
was  suffered  to  go  into  a  state  of  decay,  the  de- 
cline of  the  sect  having  commenced  as  soon  as 
their  first  pastor  left  them. 

He  wrote,  also,  a  number  of  other  articles,  one 
of  which  contained  an  account  of  the  march  to 
Xova  Scotia,  of  the  regiment  commanded  by  his 
father,  in  which  he  was  a  captain,  through  a  then, 
fearful,  savage  wilderness,  now  a  land  of  highly 
cultivated  fields,  filled  with  beautiful  towns  and 
villages.  It  contained  also  an  account  of  the  cap- 
ture of  Louisburg.  which  was  the  result  of  that 
expedition.  This  manuscript  was  exceedingly  in- 
teresting at  that  time,  and  at  present  would  be 
still  more  so,  but  unfortunately,  it  was  accidentia 
destroyed. 

The   father  and  son  were   both  in  advance  ot 
their  age  in  relation  to  those  principles,  for  the  es- 
tablishment and  promulgation  of  which  our  mod- 
ern temperance  societies  have  been  instituted,  for 
2* 


18  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.  FOOTE. 

they  received  in  money  that  portion  of  their  ra- 
tions which  consisted  of  rum,  and  this  they  con- 
verted into  silver  spoons,  each  of  which  was  marked 
"Louisburg."  These  were  left  as  mementos  to  their 
descendants,  that  the  habitual  use  of  spirituous 
liquors  was  unnecessary,  under  any  circumstan- 
.ces;  since,  if  any  plea  could  justify  such  use  of 
them,  it  would  have  been  that  of  the  fatigues  and 
hardships  encountered  on  that  campaign. 

One  of  those  spoons  was  lately  deposited  with 
the  Historical  Society  of  Hartford,  and  in  the  no- 
tice  of  it  which  was  published,  it  was  remarked, 
that  the  descendants  of  those  men  (the  Wards) 
had  never  been  disgraced  by  numbering  a  drunk- 
ard among  them. 

The  son  and  daughter  of  these  puritans  did  not 
in  their  religious  belief,  tread  in  the  footsteps  of 
their  forefathers,  but  became  converts  to  the 
Church  of  England,  at  a  period  when  a  church- 
man in  New  England  was  in  an  enemy's  country. 
especially  in  Connecticut,  and  more  especially  in 
Guilford,  whero  puritanic  testimony  against  the 
dangers  of  prelatism  was  declared  in  the  strong- 
est terms,  and  with  the  deepest  feelings  of  deter- 
mined opposition. 

The  purity  of  character,  however,  and  the  ge- 
nial, kindly  dispositions  of  the  Footes,  softened 
the  asperity  of  religious  intolerance  as  far  as  re- 
lated to  them,  and  acquired  the  friendship  and  re- 
sj>ect  of  all  who  knew  them,  by  whom  their  her- 
esy was  rather  lamented  than  resented. 


PARENTAGE.  19 

During  the  war  of  the  revolution.  Eli  Footc.  in 
common  with  all  the  Episcopalians  of  New  Eng- 
land, adhered  to  the  royal  cause,*  but  in  a  quiet, 
orderly,  peaceful  manner,  and  so  evidently  from 
conscientious  motives  that  he  was  never  troubled 
by  the  zealous  patriots  of  his  neighborhood.  His 
father-in-law.  and  his  brothers  Ebenezerf  and 
John,  served  in  the  American  army  during  the  war. 
being,  with  all  their  relatives,  except  Eli,  zealous 
Whigs.  His  father,  also,  in  the  civil  service  of 
his  country,  was  a  firm  patriot.  He  was  chosen 
one  of  the  delegates  to  the  State  Convention  to 
which  the  Constitution  'of  the  United  States  was 
submitted  for  approval  or  rejection,  and  strongly 
urged  its  adoption.  Gen.  Ward  was  also  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Convention,  and  opposed  the  Constitu- 
tion on  the  ground,  that  by  it  the  States  surren- 
dered too  much  of  their  power  to  the  central  gov- 
ernment. They  were  both  members  of  the  State 
legislature  for  many  years. 

Eli  Foote  and  Eoxanna  Ward,  were  married  on 
the  11th  of  October.  1772,  and  at  the  period  of  the 
peace  which  established  the  Independence  of  our 
country,  were  the  parents  of  six  children. 

The  revolutionary  war  in  its  progress  had  im- 
poverished the  people  of  New  England,  not  only 
by  the  loss  of  property  already  acquired,  but  also 
of  the  facilities  they  possessed  of  acquiring  more. 
by  the  destruction  of  their  commerce  and  naviga- 

*Appendix  No.  1.  f  Appendix  No.  2. 


20  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

tlon,  in  which  almost  all  were  concerned,  directly 
or  indirectly. 

The  change  of  the  government  of  the  country 
to  an  independent  nation,  would  necessarily  pro- 
duce changes  in  the  state  of  society  and  the  course 
of  business:  but  these  were  not  as  great  in  Con- 
necticut as  in  the  other  States,  and  in  commercial 
proceedings,  the  former  system  of  operations  was 
soon  renewed,  and  the  first  resumption  was  in 
i  heir  navigation. 

From  the  earliest  period  of  the  settlements  of 
towns  along  the  New  England  coasts,  their  mer- 
chants were  engaged  in  some  kind  of  navigation, 
and  owned  small  vessels,  in  which  thdjv  carried  on 
their  trade  to  the  West  Indies,  to  the  Southern 
portions  of  America,  and  wherever  else  they  were 
allowed  to  trade.  A  great  portion  of  them  Avas 
engaged  in  the  fisheries,  and  supplied  an  im- 
portant part  of  the  cargoes  of  those  employed  in 
the  West  India  trade.  The  other  portions  of 
these  cargoes  consisted  of  lumber  and  provisions, 
with  deck-loads  of  horses  and  cattle.  These  were 
exchanged  for  the  rum,  sugar,  coffee,  pimento,  etc., 
of  the  islands,  and  supplied  the  interior  demands 
for  those  articles. 

One  of  this  class  of  traders  was  Eli  Footc,  who  in 
connection  with  another  person  living  on  Long 
Island,  had  built  a  small  vessel  fortius  trade;  but 
in  this  business  he  was  unfortunate,  owing  to  the 
mistakes  or  misconduct  of  his  associate;  and  as  his 
family  was  increasing,  a  decrease  in  the  means  of 


PARENTAGE.  21 

providing  for  it  was  peculiarly  distressing.  He, 
however,  exerted  his  best  efforts  to  repair  his 
losses  and  to  increase  the  profits  of  his  business, 
as  well  as  the  number  of  individuals  in  his  family. 

t. 

It  was  at  that  period  customary  with  many  of 
the  New  England  traders  to  transfer  their  busi- 
ness  during  the  winter  season  to  the  towns  of  the 
Southern  States,  as  most  of  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness of  those  States  was  transacted  at  that  sea- 
son,  and  commercial  operations  there  were  almost 
exelusivelv  conducted  by  new  England  and  Scotch 
merchants.  It  was  the  custom  of  New  England 
traders  to  spend  their  winters  at  the  South,  and 
return  in  summer  early  enough  to  escape  the 
deadly  effects  of  a  Southern  climate  on  Northern 
constitutions,  and  as  summer  and  autumn  were 
the  business  seasons  of  Xew  England,  it  was  prac- 
ticable to  carry  on  business  at  the  North  and 
South  to  better  advantage  than  to  confine  it  ex- 
clusively to  either  of  those  regions. 

Justin  Foote.  the  vouno-est  brother  of  Eli.  to 
whose  care  he  had  been  confided  during  his  boy- 
hood, had  made  a  mercantile  establishment  at 
Murfreesborough,  North  Carolina,  and  had  been 
successful,  having  fortunately  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  a  young  Scotchman,  a  man  of  excellent 
character,  and  a  well  educated  merchant,  who  had 
resided  in  the  West  Indies  Ion 2;  enough  to  consider 
himself  acclimated  to  a  Southern  region.  Being 
temperate,  prudent  and  cautious,  he  escaped  the 
prevailing  fevers  of  that  country,  and  lived  to  a 


22  .MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

good  old  age ;  the  connection  was  dissolved  only 
by  death. 

Those  fevers,  referred  to,  were  so  regular  in 
their  visits,  as  to  he  expected  to  return  with  the 
same  regularity  as  returns  of  the  season,  which 
they  characterized.  With  the  natives  they  took 
the  mild  form  of  intcrmittents.  or  fever  and  ague, 
but  with  Northern  visitors,  billions  fevers  of  a 
deadly  type. 

The  course  of  trade  in  those  mercantile  estab- 
lishments, was  to  furnish  the  Planters  with  every 
article  they  needed,  which  the  plantations  did  not 
yield,  and  collect  and  ship  their  disposable  pro- 
duce of  every  kind,  including  corn,  pork,  naval 
stores,  lumber,  cotton  in  small  quantities,  with  a 
number  of  smaller  articles,  and  fish  in  large  quan- 
tities, from  the  extensive  herring  and  shad  fishe- 
ries on  all  their  rivers.  The  shipments  were 
chiefly  to  the  West  Indies  and  the  Northern  ports, 
and  their  imports  were  from  the  West  Indies,  su- 
gar, molasses,  coffee,  rum,  etc.;  and  from  the 
Nothern  cities,  not  only  dry  goods  and  hardware, 
but  hats  and  shoes,  which  were  almost  exclusivelv 
imported  from  England,  together  with  millstones, 
millinery,  medicines.  and#  yankee  notions  gen- 
erally, for  there  were  no  manufactories  of  any 
kind  in  the  Southern  States,  and  as  few  mechanics 
as  possible.  In  3Iurfreesborough,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  century,  there  was  a  considerable 
number  of  trading  houses,  but  no  mechanics  exer- 
cising their   trades,  except    a  blacksmith    and    a 


PARENTAGE.  23 

tailor.  There  was  not  a  church,  a  clergyman  or 
a  lawyer  in  the  place;  there  was,  however,  a  bar- 
ber and  two  physicians.  A  masonic  hall  supplied 
the  place  of  all  public  buildings,  except  the  office 
of  Surveyor  of  the  port,  it  being  a  port  of  deliv- 
ery. The  offices  of  Surveyor,  Inspector,  Post- 
master, etc.,  were  held  by  Col.  Murfrec,  the  found- 
er of  the  town,  and  afterwards  of  another  of  the 
same  name,  in  Tennessee.  The  town  contained, 
besides  the  masonic  hall,  a  tavern,  a  boarding 
house,  and  a  race  course,  which  completed  the 
number  of  its  public  institutions.  Strolling  com- 
panies of  comedians  sometimes  displayed  their 
talents  in  the  masonic  hall,  and  itinerant  preach- 
ers of  the  Baptist  and  Methodist  denominations, 
occasionally  called  the  attention  of  the  people  to 
the  truths  of  Christianity,  which  to  most  of  them 
was  like  the  preaching  of  St.  Paul  at  Athens, 
bringing  strange  things  to  their  ears.  Revivals 
were  occasionally  awakened,  the  influences  of 
which,  however,  were  not  generally  so  permanent 
as  to  supercede  the  necessity  of  frequent  repeti- 
tions. 

The  genial,  kindly,  hospitable  and  friendly  dis- 
positions of  the  inhabitants  of  all  that  portion  of 
the  State,  were  very  marked,  and  their  social 
gatherings  were  frequent,  not  only  at  regular  hol- 
iday periods,  but  at  weddings,  races,  and  all  other 
occasions  which  would  authorize  festive  assembla- 
ges. The  young  men  generally,  however,  seemed 
to  think  that  ':a  short  life  and  a  merry  one,"  was 


24  MEMOIR    OF     SAMUEL    E.    FOOTF. 

the  maxim  to  live  by,  and,  in  consequence,  old 
men  were  as  rare  as  young  ones  at  Guilford,  from 
whence  youthful  emigrants  were  so  constantly 
flowing,  that  the  proportion  of  old  men  among  the 
population  was  then,  and  has  ever  been,  a  striking 
characteristic  of  the  place. 

The  use  of  such  quack  medicines  as  whisky, 
peach  brandy,  and  alcoholic  stimulants  generally, 
which  were  considered  prophylactics  for  their  fe- 
vers, produced  the  effects  which  quack  medicines 
generally  do,  rendering  the  first  clause  of  the 
above  maxim,  of  a  short  and  merry  life,  a  practi- 
cal doctrine,  restraining  over  population  as  effect- 
ually as  any  Malthusian  could  desire. 

Justin  Foote  advised  his  brother  Eli,  to  make  a 
trading  establishment  at  Winton,  the  county  seat, 
ten  miles  below  Murfreesborough,  on  the  same 
river,  the  Meherrin,  and  so  much  nearer  to  the 
extensive  herring  fisheries  of  that  river,  and  the 
Chowan,  of  which  it  is  a  branch.  The  advice 
was  followed,  and  the  business  of  the  first  sea- 
son was  so  encouraging,  that  it  was  continued 
another  vcar,  in  the  course  of  which  the  store  was 
broken  open  and  robbed  of  its  most  valuable  con- 
tents: and  some  of  the  burglars  being  taken,  he 
was  compelled  to  remain  until  the  session  of  the 
court  in  which  they  were  tried.  This  was  at  the 
commencement  of  the  sicklv  season,  of  which  he 
became  one  of  the  earliest  victims.  He  died  on 
the  9th  of  September,  1792,  and  through  the  loss- 
es he  bad  sustained,  and  the  difficulties  naturally 


PARENTAGE.  25 

attendant  on  a  business  left  in  such  an  exposed 
situation,  the  estate  was  declared  insolvent,  and 
though  in  a  very  small  amount,  it  was  sufficient 
to  leave  his  widow  destitute  and  pennyless,  with 
ten  children,  the  elde>t  nineteen  years,  and  the 
youngest  less  than  eight  months  old.  Her  father, 
however,  who  had  no  other  living  child,  (his  only 
other  one.  the  wife  of  Abraham  Chittenden.  Esq., 
of  Guilford,  having  died  several  vears  previous/) 
took  her.  with  all  her  children,  to  Xutplains.  his 
farm,  about  two  miles  from  Guilford,  and  during 
the  remainder  of  his  life  was  a  father  to  her  chil- 
dren, as  well  as  herself.  Iter  oldest  son.  Andrew 
Ward  Foote,  had  been  at  his  birth,  adopted  by 
him  as  his  principal  heir,  with  the  intention  of 
having  his  name  changed  by  cutting  off'  its  last 
word,  as  soon  as  he  should  arrive  at  a  suitable 
age.  He  died,  however,  before  that  period  ar- 
rived, and  his  grandfather  died  a  few  years  after, 
leaving  to  his  daughter  a  life  estate  in  his  farm, 
together  with  the  house  in  which  she  had  resided 
with  her  husband  in  Guilford,  and  some  lots  in 
its  vicinity  in  fee.  Her  two  eldest  sons  died  in 
1794.  at  a  period  at  which  they  had  became  com- 
petent to  the  management  of  the  farm,  and  the 
third  son  having  been  adopted  by  an  uncle,  had 
gone  to  AVilliamstown  for  the  purpose  of  being 
educated  at  the  college,  then  lately  established 
there.  The  two  remaining  sons.  Samuel,  aged 
nearly  eight,  and  George,  two  years  younger,  al- 
though very  precocious,  were  not  qualified  to  do 
3 


26  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL     E.    POOTE. 

the  duties  of  men.  They,  however,  improved 
rapidly,  and  in  a  few  years  were  men  in  power, 
though  but  boys  in  age.  In  farm  labors  and 
school  attendance,  they  plodded  along  until  cir- 
cumstances enabled  Samuel  to  enter  upon  the  ca- 
reer in  whieh  he  became  distinguished  at  a  very 
early  period  of  life. 


EARLY    LIFE    AND    KINDRED.  27 


C  H APTKE    I J . 

E  A  RLY    L  I  V  E    A  N  I )    K  I  N  D  R  E  ] ) 


••  Who  can  find  a  virtuous  woman  ;  her  price  is  far  above  rubies."* — Sol- 
omon. 


The  value  of  female  influence  in  forming  the 
character  of  a  young  man.  when  proceeding  from 
intelligent  minds,  purified  by  Christianity,  and 
strengthened  by  the  cares  and  labors  imposed  on 
those  to  whom  afflictions  have  been  sent  from 
Heaven,  cannot  be  too  highly  estimated. 

In  the  blessings  derived  from  this  source,  Sam- 
uel  E.  Foote  inherited  advantages  which,  in  value, 
were  "beyond  the  power  of  gold."  His  mother 
was  an  incarnation  of  the  characteristics  of  char- 
ity as  enumerated  by  the  Apostle  in  the  thirteenths 

*A  mercantile  commentator  on  this  motto  might  naturally,  looking  at  it 
in  the  commercial  point  of  view,  suggest  ;i  doubt  whether  Solomon  had  not 
enjoyed  a  more  extensive  credit  for  wisdom  than  his  capital  of  that  article 
would  give  any  one  at  the  present  time. 

Such  a  quotation  of  prices  as  it  gives  would,  in  a  modern  mercantile  cir- 
cular, be  considered  very  unsatisfactory  to  any  person  desiring  to  learn  from 
it  the  fair  value  of  virtuous  women  in  the  Jerusalem  market  in  Solomon's 
time.  At  the  present  period,  it  requires  no  extraordinary  amount  of  wis- 
dom to  give  a  much  better  quotation  of  the  price  of  a  virtuous  woman  (viz  : 
one  "sold  for  no  fault :')  in  our  nearest  markets.  They  may  generally  be 
quoted  at  from  eight  to  twelve  hundred  dollars,  according  to  quality.  Some 
fancy  articles  in  that  line  may  be  quoted  at  fifteen  hundred  dollars. 


28  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

chapter  of  Corinthians.  His  eldest  sister,  Harriet, 
was  a  zealous  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 
well  acquainted  with  its  history  and  doctrines, 
and  an  acute  and  skillful  eontroversalist  in  its  be- 
half; qualities  which  were  early  called  into  exer- 
cise from  the  circumstance  that  Nutplains  was 
much  visited  by  young  clergymen  of  the  Presby- 
terian denomination,*  who  frequently  exercised 
their  controversial  talents  on  subjects  which  were 
to  constitute  the  pursuits  of  their  future  lives. 

His  second  sister,  Iioxanna.  was  a  woman  of  ex- 
traordinary talents  and  acquirements  ;  and  in  that 
gentle,  sweet  womanliness  of  character,  which  is 
irresistible  in  its  influence,  could  not  be  excelled. 
Her  daughter,  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  has  given 
a  slight,  but  very  graphic,  sketch  of  her  in  her  char- 
acter of  Aunt  Mary,  in  one  of  her  Mayflower  tales. 
The  amount  of  the  wealth  of  knowledge  laid  up 
"in  the  countless  chambers  of  her  brain, ?:  and  her 
power  of  bringing  it  into  use  immediately  when 
wanted,  excited  admiration,  as  well  as  wonder. 
^iow  such  extent  and  variety  of  knowledge  could 
have  been  acquired  in  such  an  obscure  village  as 
Guilford.      The    attainment    of    this    knowledge, 


*  Among  the  lay  visitors  at  Nutplains  at  that  period,  Fitz  Greene  Halleck 
Avas  one  who  excited  much  interest.  He  was  a  young  lad  of  very  modest 
and  pleasing  demeanor,  and  of  remarkably  precocious  talents.  His  earliest 
poetical  efforts  were  submitted  to  the  critics  at  Nutplains  and  highly  com- 
mended. Many  pieces  which  he  did  not  consider  as  possessing  sufficient 
merit  to  bo  included  among  his  collected  works,  were  preserved,  and  some 
of  thorn  published  many  years  afterward.  They  were  more  highly.estimat- 
C'l  by  the  public  than  by  the  author. 


-*""  EARLY    LIFE    AND    KINDRED.  29 

however,  as  far  as  could  be  obtained  from  books, 
was  not  so  extraordinary  as  the  power  she  pos- 
sessed of  combining  in  the  various  kinds  of  infor- 
mation acquired  from  books  or  conversation,  those 
which  belonged  together  or  were  sequent,  and  lay- 
ing them  up  so  carefully  in  her  memory,  that  she 
coald  find  and  bring  them  together  when  wanted. 
The  -'Guilford  Library"  contained  most  of  the 
standard  histories  and  other  works  of  the  highest 
class  in  English  literature.  She  had  also  the  use 
of  a  valuable  French  library  belonging  to  a  Mr. 
Gomarre,  who  taught  her  the  French  language. 

He  was  a  venerable  and  intelligent  gentleman, 
a  fugitive  from  St.  Domingo,  who  saved  his  library 
and  some  other  property  with  his  life,  at  the  time 
of  the  massacre  of  the  whites,  of  whom  several 
came  to  Guilford,  and  the  younger  ones  married 
there  and  became  good  Yankees. 

Her  grandfather,  also,  was  in  the  habit  of  bring- 
ing, twice  a  year,  the  amount  of  his  pay  as  a  leg- 
islator,* in  the  newest  literature  of  the  time^ 
And  it  was  his  custom  at  Xutplains,  from  the  pe- 
riod of  the  close  of  the  labors  of  the  day  till  bed- 
time, to  gather  the  family  at  the  round  table  and 
read  aloud,  and  make  suggestive  and  judicious 
comments  on  such  literature. 

Eoxanna  Foote  was  married  to  the  Eev.  Lyman 
Beecher  in  1799,  and  became  the  mother  of  eight 


*  The  Legislature  of  Connecticut  held  two  sessions  annually  previous  to 
the  adoption  of  a  State  Constitution. 

3* 


30  MEMOIR    OV     SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

children,  viz:  Catherine,  Edward,  Mary,  Henry 
Ward,  Harriet,  William,  George  and  Charles,  most 
of  whom  have  made  their  names  known  in  the  lit- 
erary and  religions  world. 

The  third  sister,  Mary,  was  endowed  with  fine 
talents  and  much  personal  beauty,  but  she  mar- 
ried at  an  early  age,  and  sunk  under  the  circum- 
stances which  followed  and  were  its  consequence. 
The  following  lines,  addressed  to  her  brother  on 
the  commencement  of  his  sea-faring  career,  are 
expressive  of  strong  sisterly  attachment,  strength- 
ened bv  circumstances  that  will  be  referred  io> 
hereafter : 

TO  A  BROTHER. 

A  sister,  anxious  for  thy  fate, 
With  feelings  most  affectionate, 

Presents  her  parting  prayer; 
And — venturing  forth  life's  dangerous  road — 
"Weeping,  commends  thee  to  her  God, 

And  asks  his  guardian  care. 

^  'T  is  not  alone  that  He  would  deign 

To  save  thee  from  long  hours  of  pain, 

And  guard  thy  mortal  breath, 
When  pestilence,  in  secret,  blasts, 
Or  when  around  his  fatal  shafts 
At  noonday  scatter  death. 

For  fond  affection's  anxious  breast 
For  ills  more  fatal  is  distrest, 

And  shrinks  with  fearful  dread, 
And  fervent  prays  that  grace  Divine, 
With  brightest  beams  would  ever  shine 

Around  her  favorite's  head. 


EARLY    LIFE    AND    KINDRED.  31 

She  asks  that  Heaven's  almighty  Power 
Would  watch  thee  in  temptation's  hour — 

Thy  erring  heart  defend. 
And  round  thv  vet  unsullied  vouth. 
His  broad  defence,  "The  Shield  of  Truth/' 

In  mercy  e'er  extend. 

And  now  to  foreign  lands  you  go, 
Unconscious  whether  weal  or  woe 

Your  future  path  attend, 
Unconscious  that  you  meet  not  there 
A  mother's  or  a  sister's  care, 

Or  even  a  kindred  friend. 


When  fever  in  a  fervid  clime 
Rising  upon  thy  youthful  prime. 

Pours  down  his  scorching  ray: 
Who  then  shall  soothe  thy  aching  head. 
And,  watching  round  thy  painful  bed, 

With  fond  affection  stay? 

But  if  thou  own'st  that  "better  friend," 
E'en  there  His  comforts  shall  descend, 

Thy  weary  soul  to  rest. 
And  if  perchance  't  is  His  decree, 
Thy  friends  belov'd  with  sight  of  thee 

Shall  ne'er  again  be  blest; 

Yet  in  thy  final  dreaded  hour, 
His  mercy  of  its  bitterest  power, 

Shall  tyrant  death  disarm; 
While  in  the  last  extremit}', 
Thy  sure,  thy  firm  support  shall  be 

His  everlasting  arm. 


?j'l  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.  FOOTE. 

An  older  sister  than  Mary,  Martha,  died  young. 

His  youngest  sister,  Catherine,  died  also  at  the 
age  of  nineteen.  In  her  improvement  he  took 
great  interest,  making  every  effort  in  his  power 
to  strengthen  her  mind  and  increase  her  knowl- 
edge. 

Such  efforts  for  the  improvement  of  a  younger 
sister  exert  a  favorable  influence  on  the  mind,  as 
well  as  the  morals,  of  a  young  man.  He  thereby 
both  gives  and  receives  good  and  useful  lessons, 
and  they  are  such  as  are  most  deeply  and  perma- 
nently imprinted  on  his  mind  and  heart.  This 
effect  on  the  heart  is  generally  well  understood, 
but  its  influence  on  the  intellect  is  not  so  much 
thought  of,  though  it  is  very  powerful,  and  a  more 
general  and  just  appreciation  of  it  would  be  use- 
ful. A  young  man  whose  intellect  only  has  been 
educated,  and  educated  without  reference  to  his 
heart,  however  great  may  be  his  genius  and  tal- 
ents, will  always  display  some  obliquities  of  mind 
and  crochetty  characteristics  that  weaken  not  only 
his  moral  perceptions,  but  also  those  which  appear 
to  be  exclusively  mental.  Before  we  send  boys  to 
male  instructors  for  the  education  of  their  heajds. 
we  ought  to  be  sure  that  their  hearts  are  duly  ed- 
ucated, or  are  in  progress  of  education,  under 
female  influence,  for,  otherwise,  their  minds  lose 
much  of  their  power,  in  addition  to  the  loss  of 
strength  in  their  moral  character. 

His  sister  Mary,  two  years  older  than  himself, 
married,  in  1803,  John  James  Hubbard,  a  mer- 


EARLY    LIFE    AND    KINDRED.  33 

chant  of  the  Island  of  Jamaica,  to  which  place 
she  accompanied  him  in  the  same  year. 

He  (Hubbard)  was  desirous  to  engage  his  broth- 
er-in-law  in  his  service,  and  ottered  him  a  situa- 
tion in  his  counting-house.  His  sister,  also,  was 
very  desirous  of  his  company  in  the  strange  land 
to  which  she  was  going.  He  therefore  accompa- 
nied her,  intending  to  qualify  himself  for  a  mer- 
cantile career.  He  remained  there,  however,  but 
about  a  year,  and  during  that  period  displayed 
that  extraordinary  aptitude  for  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge,  and  that  quickness  of  apprehension 
which  distinguished  him  throughout  life.  His 
knowledge,  not  only  of  book-keeping,  but  of  the 
manner  of  transacting  business  generally,  together 
with  a  hand-writing  which  was  a  model  of  easily 
legible  and  elegant  penmanship,  would  have  been 
sufficient  recommendations  for  a  good  situation  in 
any  counting-house. 

He  returned  with  his  sister,  whose  health  had 
become  so  feeble,  that  her  physicians  could  only 
prescribe  for  her  a  return  to  her  native  land,  as 
offering  the  sole  hope  for  a  prolongation  of  her 
life.  Her  mind  had  first  been  shocked  by  the 
contrast  of  manners  and  morals  in  the  Island  (a 
state  of  society  prevailing  there  of  the  existence 
of  which  she  had  never  conceived  the  idea)  with 
the  rigid  and  pure  style  of  morals  in  her  native 
village,  which,  at  that  time,  was  one  of  the  most 
primitive  of  the  Puritan  towns  of  Xew  England, 
where   a  course  of  life  considered  harmless   and 


:)4  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL    E.    POOTE. 

not  disreputable  in  the  West  Indies,  would  have- 
been  thought  one  of  extreme  depravity.  Her 
physical  system,  also,  was  shattered  from  the  in- 
fluence of  a  AVe>t  India  climate  on  a  New  Eng- 
land constitution.  And  she  who  had  left  home  a 
vear  before  in  the  full  bloom  of  beaut v,  glowing 
with  health,  and  full  of  the  hopes,  so  natural  to 

ong  bride,  of  a  life  of  wedded  happiness  in  the 
tairv  isle<.  whose  delicious  fruits  and  mild,  genial 
climate,  made  it  seem  to  the  vouth  of  the  cold 
north  like  the  enchanted  regions  of  the  Arabian 
tales,  returned  to  linger  and  die:  her  hop 
changed  to  bitter  disappointment,  and  her  pro-- 
pects  for  the  future  only  those  of  mental  and  phy- 

al  suffering  sufficient  to  carry  her  to  an  earlv 
grave.  To  a  rest  there,  in  the  belief  that  it  was 
the  entrance  to  an  existence  in  a  better,  brighter 
world,  where  hope  is  not  killed  by  disappointment, 
but  changed  t<_-  joyous  fruition,  she  looked  forward ; 
and.  purified  by  affliction  and  suffering,  she  found 
that  haven  of  rest  for  the  weary  and  heavy  laden, 
which  her  Savior  had  promised  t< :»  all  that  should 
come  unto  Him.  Her  sister  Eoxanna,  who  had 
the  power  of  conferring  comfort  and  happiness  on 
all  within  her  influence,  bevond  that  of  almost 
anv  other  human  being,  aided  bv  her  excellent 
husband,  smoothed  her  path  to  the  grave  and 
cheered  her  in  its  progress 

Samuel,  on  his  return  from  .Jamaica,  determined 
to  continue  his  mercantile  education,  and,  at  the 
same    time,    qualify   himself  for   a    navigator,    a 


EARLY    LIFE    AND    KINDRE 

d  for  which  the  tw<    pass    a   -  he  had  m:. 

_   hened  the  desire  and  his    Letermina- 

.'  r  this  purpose  he   entered   the    trad:    _ 

shment  of  Andrew  Elli  Guilford,  wl 

pied  the  store  that  had  formerly  been  that  of 

his  father.  Ei:   I  ;iud  whose  daughter 

rn)  he  married  twenty-fou  rd. 

>r  the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  mathematical 
knowledge   necessary  to   a   navigator,   lie  placed 
himself  under  the  tuition  of  a  person  then  resid- 
ing in  Guilfoi         surveyor  by  pro:     -     a,  and  ]S 
than  Redfield  by  nam«       This  was  one  of  th<  - 
men  to  whom  the  mathematical  seier.  rd  all 

the  pleas  f  life  that  they  d  sir    to  en  id 

wh         ver  a.         id  never  can  be.  an v  thing  but 
m.  laticians.  h;       tg  no  room  in  heart  or  mind 

:    my  other  guesl       The  following  ane  ill 

illustrate  hi*  r: 

Ob  ::      _  I  saw  him  passi]  _ 

fchi    sta    >t.  and  called  to  him.  saving  he  ~- 

jlution  of  a  problem.     This  wi 
un  attraction  which  it  was  impossible  for  him  t 
sisl  two  immediately       _     i  chalki: 

diagram-  on  the  floor  until  it  was  nearly  cover* 
w],        suddenly.  B         Id  started  up.  -.        _   that 
he  could  not  wait  any  longer,  as  he  was  going  for 
the  doctor  1  i    his  wife,  who  he  feared 

dying. 

1  h        i:     died  in  but   the  problems   sur- 

vived, and  the  mathematician  wj  -      mforted. 
Messrs    S   mncl  ai      ^     drew  Elliott  were  own 


;><»  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

crs  of  several  vessels  employed  in  the  West  India 
trade,  and  as  soon  as  Foote  considered  himself 
sufficiently  learned  in  the  theory  of  navigation,  he 
set  about  qualifying  himself  in  the  practical 
knowledge,  by  shipping  as  a  foremast  hand  on 
board  one  of  their  schooners.  He  made  his  first 
voyage  in  that  capacity  to  the  West  Indies.  On 
his  second  voyage  in  the  same  vessel,  while  lying 
in  port,  a  brig  from  Philadelphia  belonging  to  her 
captain,  lost  its  chief  mate,  and  Foote  was  recom- 
mended to  fill  his  place.  Although  he  (Foote) 
had  some  doubts  as  to  his  qualifications  for  that 
office  in  a  square-rigged  vessel,  as  his  experience 
had  been  only  in  those  of  fore-and-aft  rig.  yet  as 
he  had.  while  a  boy,  built  a  ship  of  about  two  feet 
in  length,  and  rigged  her  complete  with  every 
rope,  spar  and  sail,  he  concluded  that  he  might 
rely  on  his  knowledge  thus  gained,  and  accepted 
the  berth.  He  went  to  Philadelphia  and  returned 
to  the  West  Indies,  where  Captain  Chase  deter- 
mined to  remain  until  the  brig  could  go  to  Phila- 
delphia and  return,  and  gave  the  command  of  her 
to  Foote,  although  he  was  at  that  time  but  eigh- 
teen years  of  age.  He  made  a  short  voyage  in  her 
as  master,  to  the  West  Indies  and  back  to  Phila- 
delphia. He  then,  although  Captain  Chase  desired 
him  to  remain  in  command  of  the  brig,  deter- 
mined to  seek  further  experience  in  a  subordinate 
situation.  The  difficulties  he  experienced  in  con- 
sequence of  his  extreme  youth — among  them  the 
apparent  incongruity  of*  seeing  men    of  twenty 


EARLY    LIFE    AND    KINDRED.  •>< 

and  thirty  years  experience  in  navigation  placed 
under  the  command  of  a  lad  of  eighteen  years* 
and  of  very  little  experience — induced  him  to 
make  this  determination,  and  lie  went  with  Capt. 
Chase,  as  chief  mate  of  the  ship  Cotton-Plant,  to 
Rotterdam. 

While  in  Holland,  he  made  inquiries  and  ob- 
servations (according  to  his  custom  in  relation  to 
whatever  belonged  to  the  pursuit  in  which  he  was 
engaged)  respecting  the  progress  of  improvement 
in  navigation,  and  the  construction  of  merchant 
ships,  in  that  country  in  which  commerce,  in  the 
style  in  which  it  is  conducted  in  modern  times. 
may  be  said  to  have  commenced  earliest  and  been 
most  successful. 

Although  at  that  time  Holland  could  not  furnish 
specimens  of  fast  sailing  clipper  ships, t  her  pro- 
gress in  that  respect  from  the  time  of  the  "  Goede- 
Vrouw  "  not  by  any  means  resembling  Yankee 
progress — yet  the  examples  furnished  by  her 
ships  of  extraordinary  neatness,  good  and  useful 
arrangement  for  economy  of  room,  good  disci- 
pline  and  regularity,  were  useful  to  a  young  man 

"While  getting  his  brig  into  her  place  in  the  clock  at  Philadelphia,  he 
overheard  two  old  East  India  captains,  whose  ships  were  lying  near  by,  dis- 
coursing on  the  subject  of  "  modern  degeneracy."  In  exemplification  of 
its  alarming  progress,  one  of  them  remarked,  "  Why  that  boy  there  is  mas- 
ter of  that  brig!"'  "Ay,  ay,"'  says  the  other,  "they  make  captains  of 
babies  now-o'-days  as  soon  as  their  clouts  are  off.'" 

f  The  French  navy — mercantile  as  well  as  warlike — at  that  period  furnished 
the  best  specimens  of  fast-sailing  vessels,  and  at  the  same  time  the  worst 
examples  in  discipline  and  in  the  neatness,  &c,  in  which  the  Dutch  vessels 
excelled. 


38  MEMOIE    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

seeking  information  relative  to  every  detail  in  all 
the  departments  of  his  profession,  and  he  profited 
thereby.  Yankee  vessels,  at  that  time,  were  very 
apt  to  be  deficient  in  the  above-mentioned  partic- 
ulars, the  Yankee  characteristic  of  doing  every 
thine  in  a  hurry  causing  such  matters  to  be  too 
much  neglected. 

He  then  returned  to  New  York,  and  placed 
himself  under  the  command  of  Capt.  Chase,  one 
of  the  best  navigators  of  that  port,  as  mate  of  the 
ship  ({ olden  Fleece,  and  made  two  voyages  to 
England,  after  which,  in  compliance  with  the  so- 
licitations of  his  uncle  and  brother,  (the  firm  of 
J.  cv  J.  P.  Foote),  he  took  command  of  one  of  their 
vessels  trading  to  the  AVest  Indies,  taking  an  out- 
ward cargo  from  North  Carolina,  and  bringing 
the  returns  to  New  York. 

This  trade,  however,  did  not  suit  his  taste,  and 
he  continued  in  it  but  a  short  time. 


EDUCATION  39 


CHAPTER    III 


EDUCATION. 


"  Dull  conceited  clashes 
Confuse  their  hrains  in  college  classes." — Bvkxs. 

Travel  in  the  younger  sort  is  part  of  education  " — Bacon. 


The  pursuit  of  knowledge  under  whatever  cir- 
cumstances might  surround  him,  was  a  strongly- 
marked  characteristic  of  Samuel  E.  Foote.  It 
Avas  a  pursuit  begun  at  the  earliest  period  of  life, 
and  continued  until  he  became  one  of  the  be-i 
educated  men  of  his  time. 

In  attributing  to  him  this  endowment,  the  idea 
intended  to  be  conveyed  by  it  is  not  based  upon 
the  generally  received  opinion  in  relation  to  the 
constituents  of  the  best  education,  but  upon  the 
belief  that  it  consists  in  the  acquisition  of  the 
greatest  amount  and  varietv  of  the  knowledge  of 
such  facts  in  nature,  and  such  truths  of  science. 
as  may  be.  and  are  likely  to  be,  requisite  and 
available  for  his  aid  and  success  in  the  course  of 
life  before  him.  The  course,  namely,  which  cir- 
cumstances or  natural  disposition  may  require 
him  to  adopt.  It  embraces  a  just  appreciation  of 
the  results  of  the  experience  of  others,  divesting 


40  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

them  of  the  prejudices  under  which  they  arc  often 
stated,  and  combining  various  statements  and 
opinions  in  such  order  that  the  truth  may  be 
drawn  from  them,  whether  in  accordance  with  the 
opinions  of  their  authors  or  not. 

His  course  in  acquiring  knowledge  was  not  in 
conformity  with  any  established  system  of  educa- 
tion, nor  in  accordance  with  the  prescribed  meth- 
ods of  any  seminary  of  learning;  neither  was  it 
conducted,  in  its  details,  upon  such  a  plan  as 
could  be  generally  adopted. 

The  knowledge  which  requires  for  its  attain- 
ment of  such  deep  and  exclusive  attention  to  any 
one  or  two  departments,  as  to  make  it  impossible 
to  acquire  a  competent  acquaintance  with  the  va- 
rious matters  requisite  to  enable  a  man  to  make 
the  best  use  of  his  faculties  and  talents  for  the 
benefit  of  the  community,  and  of  himself  and 
those  dependent  on  him,  is  not  what  ought  to 
stand  in  the  place  of  a  good  education.  Parrs 
and  Porsons  may  be  reckoned  among  the  "Curi- 
osities  of  Literature,"  but  they  would  not  be  very 
well  qualified  for  American  citizens.  It  may,  per- 
haps, be  well  enough  to  have  such  "curiosities," 
but  it  is  not  good  judgment  to  place  them  among 
the  highly  educated.  On  the  contrary,  they  are 
best  educated  who  are  best  prepared  by  their  ed- 
ucation to  meet  and  to  control  circumstances. 
They  are  such  as  possess  so  much,  and  such  va- 
rious kinds  of,  knowledge,  that  may  be  made  ]n*ac- 
tically  available  in  the  active  pursuits  of  life,  as 


EDUCATION.  41 

constitute  an  accomplished  man  of  business,  pre- 
pared to  act  promptly  in  every  emergency.  Such 
were  the  attainments  which  authorize  us  to  place 
Samuel  E.  Footc  so  high  in  the  ranks  of  men  of 
education. 

It  is  with  mental,  as  with  physical,  endow- 
ments,  in  which  a  man  with  duly  proportioned 
powers  in  each  of  his  bodily  faculties,  is  a  more 
perfect  man  than  one  with  uncommon  develop- 
ments and  powers  in  one  or  two  of  them.  The 
well  balanced  character,  however,  does  not  excite 
extraordinary  attention,  and  yet  it  is  sufficiently 
rare  to  be  ottered  to  our  consideration  for  an  in- 
structive example. 

The  method  of  education  adopted  by  Foote  at 
a  very  early  age.  was  to  direct  his  attention  rig- 
idly to  the  acquisition  of  the  branch  of  knowl- 
edge which  was  first  in  importance  to  him — as 
instanced,  previously,  in  the  case  of  his  mathe- 
matical studies — and.  having  obtained  a  compe- 
tent teacher,  to  devote  his  time  to  that  subject 
until  he  understood  it  as  well  as  his  instructor. 
Having  made  one  acquisition,  and  secured  it  well 
in  his  memory,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the 
next  in  importance  to  himself,  ami  followed  the 
same  course.  By  this  means  his  knowledge  in 
each  department  was  more  perfect  than  is  gener- 
ally obtained  by  young  men.  especially  as,  in 
most  cases,  they  adopt  studies  prescribed  by  oth- 
ers rather  than  those  to  which  their  own  choice 

would  lead. 

•j 


42  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

Under  the  tuition  of  one  of  the  best  teachers  in 
Xew  York,  he  extended  his  knowledge  of  the 
physical  sciences,  taking  the  time  necessary  for 
his  studies  whenever  he  pleased.  The  science  of 
chemistry  was  then  in  its  infancy,  as  compared 
with  its  state  at  the  present  time.  Chilton  deliv- 
ered lectures  on  this  science,  which  he  attended, 
and  studied  the  works  of  Black,  Chaptal,  Priestly, 
and  others,  until  he  understood  its  principles  and 
its  progress  up  to  that  period.  The  knowledge  of 
the  scientific  principles  of  mechanics  was  made  of 
practical  utility  throughout  life. 

With- the  progress  of  improvement  in  all  the 
sciences  and  arts,  his  knowledge  of  their  princi- 
ples enabled  him  to  keep  pace,  and  to  derive  that 
gratification  from  that  progress  which  is  among 
the  purest  enjoyments  of  life,  and  which  is  the 
paramount  advantage  of  any  system  of  early  ed- 
ucation. 

Political  economy  he  studied  rather  as  a  matter 
of  amusement  than  otherwise.  Beginning  with 
Adam  Smith  in  a  dry  French  translation,  was  a 
proof  that  amusement  could  be  derived  from  a 
study  the  least  attractive  in  appearance.  He  un- 
derstood his  principles  thoroughly,  and  continued 
through  the  works  of  Say,  Eicardo,  Malthus,  Sis- 
mondi,  and  the  rest  of  the  writers  on  that  science, 
down  to  Eaymond,  an  esteemed  cotemporary  and 
friend  of  his  early  days. 

Geology  was  not  then  the  science  that  is  now 
designated  by  that  term,  but  was  chiefly  devoted 


EDUCATION.  -±3 

to  giving  instructions,  derived,  for  the  most  part, 
from  imagination,  on  the  subject  of  world-ma- 
king— in  attempts  by  learned  speculators  to  show 
how  the  world  had  been,  or  might  have  been,  or 
ought  to  have  been,  made.  Hutton  and  "Werner, 
the  champions,  one  of  fire,  the  other  of  water,  as 
agents  employed  in  the  formation  of  the  world, 
were  the  leaders,  under  whom  the  savans  contend- 
ed for  doctrines  which  did  not  tend  to  increase 
the  utility  of  the  science.  La  Place  had  not  in- 
vented  the  theory  of  world-making  out  of  nebu- 
lous matter  (what  kind  of  matter  is  that?)  and 
thereby  contributed  another  useless  subject  of 
contention  to  the  learned ;  but  there  were  many 
'•guesses  at  truth  *'  in  relation  to  the  wi  cosmogony 
or  creation  of  the  world"  besides  those  quoted  by 
the  famous  Mr.  Jenkinson,  and  they  were  pro- 
claimed then  with  as  little  diffidence  and  modesty 
as  they  are  now.:': 


-'The  science  of  Geologj-,  into  which  an  economical  department  has  been 
admitted  duriDg  the  present  century,  constituting  it  thereby  a  new  and 
useful  science,  has  not  been  delivered  from  the  dreams  of  the  early  geolo- 
gists, nor  closed  against  those  of  the  more  modern  savans.  The  cultivators 
of  this  science  still  continue,  as  Hugh  Miller  said  of  Lamarque,  to  "call 
their  dreams  philosophy,"  and  to  publish  "guesses  at  truth"  for  deduc- 
tions of  science,  and  it  is  quite  edifying  to  see  with  what  trust  and  confi- 
dence their  guesses  and  dreams  are  adopted.  The  Mosaic  account  of  the 
creation  is  not  considered  by  modern  savans  sufficiently  philosophical,  and 
the  old  "fortuitous  concoui'se  of  atoms "  has  been  replaced  by  "nebulous 
matter,'1  for  the  purpose  of  lightening  the  labor  of  creation.  The  efforts 
of  modern  skeptics  in  endeavoring  to  discredit  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis, 
are  stimulated  probably  by  the  idea  that,  in  case  of  success,  they  will  be 
relieved  from  the  duties  imposed  on  them  in  the  twentieth  chapter  of  that 
book,  and  the  fifth  chapter  of  Matthew.  The  stupidest  fables  of  the  East, 
as  well  as  the  equally  stupid  conjectures  of  modern  skeptics,  have  been  re- 


41  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL     E.    FOOTE. 

Pseudo -philosophers  have  always  been  zealous 
deifiers  of  chance,  and  anxious  to  justify  its  ways 
to  men.  The  author  of  the  "  Vestiges  of  Crea- 
tion,"   and    Mr.   Darwin,   have  constituted  thcm- 


lie'l  on  for  aid  with  a  coolness  that  is  quite  edifying  to  contemplate.  The 
incalculable  millions  of  years  appropriated  by  them  to  their  different  eras 
of  creation,  have  been  adopted  by  their  disciples  with  the  same  unhesitating 
confidence  with  which  school-boys  used  to  receive  the  accounts  of  II  omul  us 
and  Remus,  and  their  nursing  mother,  the  she-wolf. 

The  belief  of  the  transmutation  of  vegetables  into  mineral  coal  has  been 
received  with  more  unanimity  than  almost  any  dogma  in  science  or  religion. 
Having  set  aside  the  account  which  represents  the  Creator  as  accomplishing 
his  work  by  the  fiat,  "Let  there  be,"  &c,  modern  savans  seem  to  think  it 
necessary  to  help  him  work  in  a  different  and  easier  mode  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  coal  measures.  This  is  by  the  collection  of  such  quantities  of 
vegetable-  together  in  a  heap,  as  coidd  not  possibly  be  so  collected,  then 
squeezing  and  melting  them  into  coal,  then  covering  them  with  a  stratum 
of  earth  or  sandstone,  repeating  the  process  at  various  times,  at  the  same 
places,  which  would  be  quite  as  difficult  as  to  bring  forth  light  by  the  fiat, 
"Let  there  be  light."  Why  it  should  be  more  difficult  to  create  coal  than 
granite,  has  not  been  satisfactorily  stated. 

The  old  discoveries  of  Asiatic  histories  and  astronomical  calculations,  go- 
ing backwards  thousands  of  years  beyond  the  Mosaic  period  of  creation, 
the  calculations  of  similar  periods  of  time  from  beds  of  lava,  and  the  dis- 
covery of  human  bones  in  caves,  which  must,  by  geological  calculations, 
have  belonged  to  pre-Adamit-s,  have  had  their  day,  and  new  fooleries  arc- 
constantly  succeeding  them.  It  seems  to  be  an  inevitable  tendency  of  geo- 
logical science  to  generate  theories  and  hypotheses.  The  impossibility  of 
establishing  their  correctness,  and  the  detection  of  the  fallacies  on  which 
they  are  based,  do  not  seem  to  serve  as  warnings  of  the  necessity  of  laying 
a  foundation  before  beginning  to  erect  a  superstructure.  On  the  contrary, 
they  seem  to  imagine  they  can  commence  at  the  top  ami  build  downwards, 
as  Gliddon  says  the  Egyptian  pyramids  were  built. 

The  progress  of  geological  discovery  has  been  very  rapid  during  the  pres- 
ent century,  but  the  progress  of  the  application  of  sound  judgment,  found- 
ed on  common  sense,  has  been  proportionably  tardy.  Some  geologists, 
however,  use  this  quality — for  instance,  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  in  Erjgland,  and 
Trot'.  Christy,  in  America— whereby  they  discover  that  there  is  no  necessity 
for  the  millions  of  years  assumed  as  necessary  to  geological  phenomena, 
and  that  there  is  not  at  present  any  particular  need  for  making  a  theory  for 
the  purpose  of  adapting  to  it  old  or  new  facts. 


EDUCATION.  45 

selves  high  priests  of  that  idol,  and  seem  to  be 
endeavoring  to  introduce  some  kind  of  order  into 
the  temple  where  they  worship.  Their  mysteries, 
however,  when  brought  to  the  light  that  men  of 
science — and  not  of  notions — reflect  upon  them, 
make  them  appear  ridiculous,  looking  like  a  heavy 
superstructure  built  on  a  foundation  of  mud, 
straAV,  stubble  and  weeds. 

Palaeontology  had  not  yet  received  its  name, 
and  when  Foote,  Avhile  engaged  in  the  trade  with 
Mogadore.  brought  from  that  port  a  collection  of 
fossils,  no  one  could  name  them.  He  gave  them 
to  Dr.  Archibald  Bruce,  the  most  eminent  miner- 
alogist in  the  United  States,  who  had  commenced 
the  publication  of  a  Mineralogical  Journal,  which 
was  highly  commended  in  Europe,  and  so  totally 
neglected  in  America,  that  not  more  than  one  or 
two  numbers  were  issued. 

Dr.  Bruce  seemed  to  value  these  fossils  chiefly 
as  specimens  of  the  classical  region  of  Mt.  Atlas, 
from  a  spur  of  which — the  Iron  Mountain — they 
were  taken. 

They  had  been  collected  by  Eoentzen,  a  traveler 
in  the  service  of  the  African  Association,  who  had 
spent  most  of  the  year  1809  at  Mogodore,  qualify- 
ing himself  to  follow  the  footsteps  of  Mungo  Park 
in  search  of  the  sources  and  mouth  of  the  Niger. 
He  began  by  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  Arabic 
language,  gaining  information  respecting  the  in- 
terior of  the  country,  and  making  the  necessary 
preparations  for  his  journey  generally.     Taking 


4('»  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    POOTE. 

with  him  two  guides,  he  set  Out  to  join  a  caravan 
for  Soudan,  but  was  murdered  by  his  guides  soon 
after  leaving  ]\logodore ;  the  temptation  to  the 
commission  of  this  barbarous  murder  being  the 
covetousness  awakened  by  the  property  he  carried 
with  him.  which,  although  of  no  very  great  value 
to  a  European,  was  to  them  more  valuable  than 
the  life  of  an  infidel. 

Such  of  his  fossils  and  minerals  as  he  had  col- 
lected and  left  behind,  were  presented"  to  Capt. 
Foote  by  the  friend  in  whose  care  they  had  been 
left.  The  fossils  were  given,  as  above  mentioned, 
to  Dr.  Bruce;  the  other  articles,  which  consisted 
chiefly  of  agates,  carnelians,  &c,  to  various  friends. 

A  knowledge  of  the  most  useful  modern  Ian- 

CD  ' 

guages  was  among  his  early  acquisitions.  His 
method  with  them  was  to  acquire  a  perfect  ac- 
quaintance with  the  grammar  of  one.  ami  then  go 
to  the  country  where  it  was  spoken,  and  begin  to 
speak  it.  undeterred  by  any  awkwardness  or  blun- 
ders into  which  he  might  tall,  until  he  could  think 
in  the  language,  and  speak  it  like  a  native.  Dur- 
ing a  residence  at  one  time  in  St.  .lago  de  Cuba, 
he  was  domesticated  in  a  family,  the  children  of 
which,  he  remarked,  acquired  without  any  effort 
three  languages  which  had  cost  him  much  study 
and  labor  to  acquire.  The  father  being  a  French- 
man, the  mother  an  Italian,  and  the  children 
Spaniards,  the  three  languages  were  used  so  im- 
partially, that  the  children  could  not  tell  which 
was  their  native  tongue. 


EDI  CATION.  4< 

While  perfecting  himself',  at  previous  period-, 
in  the  Spanish  language  at  Cadiz,  and  the  French 
in  the  West  Indies,  he  remarked,  as  others  have 
done  before  and  since,  that  a  Frenchman  will  cor- 
rect any  errors  of  a  learner  with  a  kind  polite- 
ness, and  will  understand  his  meaning,  if  possi- 
ble. If  he  should  say.  in  that  language,  that  he 
had  swallowed  his  physician,  when  he  intended  to 
say  that  he  had  swallowed  his  medicine,  fa  mis- 
take  that  mi  edit  easily  be  made  by  a  novice  i.  he 
would  not  be  ridiculed,  but  politely  corrected. 
The  Spaniards,  on  the  contrary,  allow  no  indul- 
gence to  the  errors  of  a  foreigner,  but  require 
strict  correctness  of  language,  and  without  it  will 
not  seem  to  understand  in  eases  in  which  a  French- 
man would  compliment  a  learner  on  his  progress. 
They  hold  their  language  in  so  high  respect,  that 
they  will  not.  like  the  English,  introduce  words 
or  names  into  it.  and  allow  them  to  retain  their 
original  orthography.  Phcebus  and  Achilles  are 
Febo  and  Aquiles,  when  they  are  admitted  into 
the  Spanish  language,  and  all  other  foreigners  are 
subjected  to  the  same  process  of  qualification  for 
the  lofty  Castilian  speech. 

Although  Foote  spoke  and  wrote  each  of  these 
Languages  with  grammatical  correctness,  and  with 
so  little  of  foreign  accent  or  idiom,  that  he  was 
frequently  taken  for  a  fellow-countryman  by  na- 
tives of  each  of  those  countries,  he  preferred  the 
Spanish  for  conversation,  when  he  could  make  a 
choice.     The  Italian  and  Portuguese  he  was  never 


4S  MEMOIR   OF     SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

in  the  habit  of  using  in  conversation,  though  he 
relished  their  literature.  Of  Latin,  as  he  had  no 
temptation  or  desire  to  explore  the  depths  and  ex- 
cel in  scholarship,  he  was  content  with  knowl- 
edge enough  to  understand  common  quotations. 

The  library  which  he  carried  in  his  cabin  occu- 
pied a  sj)ace  so  much  larger  than  we  were  accus- 
tomed to  see  devoted  to  books  in  ships'  cabins,  at 
that  period,  as  to  be  the  subject  of  frequent  re- 
mark, and,  among  the  old  sea  captains,  of  sugges- 
tions respecting  the  tendency  of  modern  innova- 
tions to  corrupt  the  manners  of  the  rising  gener- 
ation. These  were  similar  to  those  which  attend- 
ed the  various  departures  from  primitive  manners 
and  customs  in  other  matters  amon^  our  fore- 
fathers. 

Such  authors  as  Hamilton  Moore,  Bowdich. 
and  other  nautical  instructors,  with,  perhaps. 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  Eobinson  Crusoe,  and  some 
stray  volumes  of  travels  or  novels,  generally  con- 
stituted the  whole  of  a  shipmaster's  library  in 
those  early  times,  which  preceded  "modern  im- 
provements" in  ships  and  in  dwellings. 

Foote's  library  comprised  the  standard  histories, 
scientific  works  in  English  and  French,  with  a 
cyclopedia,  and  the  best  English  poets,  essayists 
and  novelists.  Of  the  latter,  Miss  Edgeworth 
was  his  favorite,  and  he  always  considered  it  one 
of  the  misfortunes  of  his  life,  that  he  was  pre- 
vented from  accepting  a  very  polite  invitation  to 
pay  her  a  visit  when  at  Dublin,  on  one  of  his  voy- 


EDUCATION.  49 

aires,  where  he  was  somewhat  of  a  lion  bv  reason 
of  his  attainments  at  so  early  a  period  of  life, 
aided,  perhaps,  by  a  remarkably  fine  face  and 
person. 

A  letter  to  the  writer  from  the  captain  of  a 
British  ship  in  the  trade  between  London  and  the 
West  Indies,  speaks  of  Capt.  Foote  as  one  who 
had  aided  greatly  in  raising  the  character  of  ship- 
masters in  the  merchant  service,  and  thereby  in- 
creasing the  respectability  of  his  profession,  for 
which  he  felt  grateful,  and  desired  to  express  his 
thankfulness. 

The  idea  of  his  extraordinary  learning  enter- 
tained by  his  sailors  was  such,  that  if  the  age  of 
magic  had  not  passed  away,  he  might  have  been 
taken  by  them  for  a  potent  enchanter.  His  rigid 
discipline  on  board  his  ship  was  submitted  to  with 
.as  implicit  obedience  as  if  his  commands  had  been 
the  laws  of  nature,  and  his  care  of  his  men  was 
proportionate  to  their  trust  in  him.  On  an  occa- 
sion of  an  attempt,  while  at  sea,  by  a  lieutenant 
of  a  British  frigate,  to  impress  one  of  his  men, 
Foote  told  him  that  he  might  capture  his  ship 
and  send  her  in  for  adjudication,  but  that  he 
should  not  take  one  of  his  men  without  taking 
him  and  his  ship  also.  The  lieutenant,  finding 
him  so  determined  in  his  resistance,  allowed  his 
man  to  remain,  and  during  the  whole  period  in 
which  impressments  of  seamen  from  American 
vessels  were  such   frequent  and  just  subjects  of 

complaint,  he  never  had  a  man  taken  from  him. 
5 


50  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.  FOOTE. 

If  the  government  of  our  country  had  displayed 
a  similar  bold  and  determined  resolution  not  to 
submit  to  the  overbearing  encroachments  of  un- 
scrupulous belligerents,  the  war  into  which  we 
were  forced  would  either  have  been  avoided,  or 
commenced  at  an  earlier  period,  before  unwise 
statesmen  had  blunted  our  energies  and  crippled 
our  resources. 

A  well  stocked  and  extensive  medicine  chest 
was  always  one  of  the  indispensable  means  and 
appliances  of  Capt.  Foote's  ship,  and  the  idea  of 
his  universal  knowledge,  entertained  bv  his  men, 
made  them  apply  to  him  in  cases  of  sickness  with 
perfect  confidence  in  his  poAver  to  relieve  them. 
This  confidence  formed  a  most  important  element 
of  success  in  his  medical  practice,  which  was  such 
that  it  might  have  been  envied  by  most  practi- 
tioners, for  he  never  lost  a  man.  His  men  also 
felt  safe,  under  his  protection  and  government, 
from  the  dangers  of  the  sea.  being  confident 
that  he  could  foresee  and  avoid  all  the  dangers  to 
which  they  were  exposed.  Their  superstitions. 
so  prevalent  from  time  immemorial,  were  treated 
with  little  respect,  and  never  suffered  to  interfere 
with  their  commander's  orders,  and  they  under- 
stood  that  prompt,  unhesitating  obedience  was 
the  course  of  safety;  a  truth  in  relation  to  the 
commands  given  to  all  men  by  their  Creator, 
which  it  would  be  well  for  them  to  consider. 

To  the  increasing  vigilance  and  attention  exer- 
cised  under  all  circumstances  under  which   any 


EDUCATION.  51 

increase  of  useful  knowledge  could  be  obtained, 
whether  from  books,  observation,  and  especially- 
con  versat  ion,  he  was  indebted  for  the  various  and 
accurate  knowledge  acquired  at  an  early  age,  of 
many  subjects  that  most  persons  consider  as  in- 
compatible and  impossible  to  any  but  a  laborious 
German  student.  It  was  not  only  a  mind  origi- 
nally of  strong  and  varied  powers  that  enabled 
him  thus  to  acquire  knowledge,  but  in  addition  a 
body  capable  of  affording  those  changes  from  a 
mental  to  a  bodily  labor,  by  which  both  body  and 
mind  arc  invigorated  and  strengthened.  Each 
was  rested  in  its  turn  by  the  labor  of  the  other, 
and  the  diseases  which  destroy  so  many  ambitious 
students  are  byr  such  a  course  avoided.  Such  a 
sound  mind  in  a  sound  body  is  not  an  endowment 
of  eveiy  one  desiring  to  attain  excellence,  or  suc- 
cess in  any"  line  of  life ;  but  minds  of  every  class 
may  imitate  this  example.  They  may  not  be 
able,  indeed,  to  follow  its  details,  but  to  adopt  the 
general  principle  of  dividing  the  time  between 
labors  that  keep  the  body  in  health,  and  those 
that  promote  the  growth  of  mind,  is  in  the  power 
of  all. 

A  young  man,  by  giving  the  preference  to  those 
studies  which  are  most  likely  to  be  called  into  use 
by  the  course  of  life  before  him.  will  acquire  that 
confidence  in  his  own  powers  which  is  an  import- 
ant, element  of  success.  The  self-conceit  which  is 
generated  in  weak  minds  by  superficial  acquire- 
ments mayr  for  a  time  impose  on  his  associates, 


52  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

but,  like  alcoholic  stimulants,  it  eventually  lessens 
his  powers  and  his  influence.     The  cultivation  of 
a  taste  for  mathematical  investigations,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  his  studies,  will  benefit  him  in  any 
course  of  life.     Even  in  cases  in  which  a  taste  for 
pursuits  that  seem  not  to  require  a  knowledge  of 
them — the  natural  sciences  for  instance — they  will 
be  found  useful.     Their  direct  utility  in  the  ordi- 
nary pursuits  of  life   is  not  the  only  advantage 
they  confer,  but  they  are  found  to   be  useful  in 
acquiring  an  accurate  knowledge  of  things  which 
are  supposed  to  be  entirely  beyond  any  need  of 
their  assistance.     Music,  for  instance,  the  theory 
of   musical   temperament   and  the   mathematical 
doctrine  of  the  relation  of  sounds,  is  among  those 
recondite  studies  that  few  ever   attempt,  and  of 
which    few  musicians   have  any  comprehension 
Although   Foote  had  no  powers  of  voice  which 
would  enable  him  to  cultivate  vocal  music,  nor  did 
he  ever  attempt  to  play  on  any  musical  instrument,, 
yet  he  was  a  lover  of  music,  and  was  desirous  to 
understand  the  recondite  principles  by  which  they 
are  regulated;  and,  on  one  occasion  when  ho  was 
detained  in  the  West  Indies,  being  compelled  to 
wait  there  several  months  for  the  termination  of 
a  business  that  occupied  very  little  of  his  time,  he 
became  acquainted  with  a  mathematician  as  de- 
voted to  the  science  as  his  first  instructor.     This 
gentleman,  however,  was  not  so  exclusive  in  his- 
devotion,   but   was   accomplished   in  many  other 
matters.     Under  his  tuition  Foote  acquired  that 


EDUCATION.  53 

acquaintance  with  this  department  of  science, 
which  many  would  characterise  (to  him)  useless 
knowledge.  If  it  were  really  so,  it  would  scarcely 
derogate  from  the  commendation  he  deserved,  of 
not  wasting  any  portion  of  his  time  for  such  acquis- 
itions. This  knowledge,  however,  although  not 
precisely  utilitarian  in  the  technical  sense  of  the 
term,  cannot  with  propriety  be  considered  as 
useless  to  any  young  man.  Its  acquisition  may 
possibly,  in  some  cases,  exclude  something  more 
practical,  but  that  was  not  the  case  in  this  instance. 
Another  branch  of  the  fine  arts,  painting,  was 
one  of  his  enjoyments,  though  he  gave  no  part  of  his 
time  to  any  attempt  to  practice  any  department  of 
it,  nor  suffered  it  at  anv  time  to  interfere  with  his 
business.  On  one  occasion,  he  happened  to  have 
in  company  with  him  at  Seville,  a  man  (the  car- 
penter of  his  ship)  who  was  remarkably  unculti- 
vated and  uneducated :  he  had  a  curiosity  to  wit- 
ness the  effect  which  the  first  sight  of  some  of  the 
finest  specimens  of  high  art  would  produce  on  such 
a  man.  For  this  purpose  he  took  him  into  the 
celebrated  Cathedral  of  that  city,  and  showed  him 
the  famous  pieces  of  Murillo,  and  other  great 
masters,  which  it  contains.  After  looking  at  them 
all  with  much  attention,  but  without  any  display 
of  their  effect  on  his  feelings.  Foote  asked  him 
what  he  thought  of  them,  he  said  he  "didn't  know 
much  about  such  things,  but  he  did  not  think  any 
of  them  was  as  good  as  a  picture  he  saw  once  out- 
side of  a  showman's  booth,  representing  a  tiger 
5* 


54  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL    E.    VOOTE. 

with  u  chikl  in  his  claws,  and  the  blood  trickling 
down  in  a  stream  as  natural  as  life." 

The  want  of  a  knowledge  of  many  things  pe- 
culiarly useful  and  necessary  to  an  agriculturist. 
he  considered  the  prominent  defect  in  New  Eng- 
land farmers  generally,  and  one  which  was  worthy 
of  more  attention  than  has  hitherto  been  given  in 
the  education  of  young  men,  and  especially  so  in 
a  region  which  is  annually  sending  forth  such 
numbers  to  introduce  cultivation  into  new  regions. 
The  deficiency  in  this  respect,  among  farmers, 
was  remarked  by  him  at  that  early  period  of  life 
when  he  was  one  of  them ;  and  he.  in  all  his 
wanderings,  paid  attention  to  every  thing  which 
would  be  made  to  exert  a  beneficial  influence  on 
the  agriculture  of  his  native  country.  This  he 
thought  susceptible  of  much  improvement,  and  he 
always  looked  forward  to  a  period  when  he  should 
be  able  himself  to  exhibit  a  good  practical  ex- 
ample. 

This  is  a  not  uncommon  anticipation  among 
commercial  men,  but  few  of  them,  when  they  have 
the  opportunity,  display  the  patience  and  perse- 
verance which  Foote  exhibited  during  the  period 
of  his  residence  at  Xew  Haven. 

In  a  letter  from  Buenos  Ayres,  in  1817,  he  says  : 
k*Tell  G.  this  is  one  of  the  finest  countries  in  the 
world  for  a  farmer.  The  land  })roduces  100  and 
120  for  one,  and  that  with  one  fifth  of  the  labor 
required  in  Connecticut  to  obtain  15  or  20.  *  * 
The  laziness  of  this  people  is  almost  beyond  con- 


EDUCATION.  55 

ception,  and  I  believe  a  Connecticut  farmer  does 
more  work  than  a  regiment  of  them."  "It  fre- 
quently happens  that  the  owner  of  1000  oxen  and 
horses,  and  five  times  as  many  sheep,  has  not  a 
bed  in  his  house,  and  is  too  lazy  to  take  the  wool 
from  his  sheep's  back,  to  spread  on  the  ground  be- 
neath him.  The  skull  of  an  ox  serves  him  for  a 
seat,  and  the  horn  for  a  cup — and  this  is  all  his 
household  furniture."' 

In  Peru  he  was  particularly  observant  of  the 
effects  of  guano,  and  thought  the  importation  of  it 
to  this  country  a  great  desideratum  ;  but  did  not 
suppose  that  such  importation  would  ever  be  made 
a  source  of  profit — an  opinion  which  he  was  glad 
t«>  see  proved  erroneous.  Most  of  his  observations 
of  the  state  of  agriculture  in  other  nations,  fur- 
nished him  with  warnings  rather  than  examples 
for  the  benefit  of  his  own  country.  In  the  latter 
pai't  of  his  life  he  saw.  with  much  satisfaction,  in 
the  establishment  of  institutions  expressly  for  the 
education  of  the  agricultural  classes,  the  com- 
mencement of  a  realization  of  his  wishes.  '-The 
Farmers'  College,"  near  Cincinnati,  had  not  been 
established  when  he  left  this  city.  It  would  have 
gratified  his  hopes  had  he  lived  to  see  its  success. 
The  establishment  and  the  constantly  increasing 
circulation  of  agricultural  periodicals,  however, 
evinced  a  great  improvement  on  the  part  of  the 
farmers,  not  only  in  knowledge,  but  in  their  esti- 
mate of  the  value  of  the  knowledge  of  the  sciences 
connected  with  agricultural  pursuits. 


5C  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

It  was  somewhat  remarkable  that  of  three  ac- 
complishments which  he  admired  exceedingly  in 
others,  he  never  attempted  to  acquire  any  prac- 
tical skill  in  them  himself.  He  never  attempted 
drawing  or  painting — except  architectural  and 
mechanical  designs,  and  diagrams;  nor  did  he 
ever  attempt  to  make  vocal  or  instrumental 
music,  and,  although  a  great  admirer  of  graceful 
movements  and  bearing,  never  attempted  to  dance, 
and  never  attended  a  public  ball. 


MOGADORE.  57 


CHAPTER    IV 


M  0  ( i  ADORE. 


"  Many  shall  run  to  and  fro  and  knowledge  shall  be  increased. "' 

Daniel  xii,  4. 
"  The  race  is  not  to  the  swift,  nor  the  battle  to  the  strong." 


The  love  of  adventure  and  the  desire  to  see 
foreign  countries  where  those  strange  people  live, 
and  where  those  strange  sights  are  to  be  seen,  of 
which  they  have  heard  or  read,  is  a  general  char- 
acteristic of  youth,  and  one  which  is  strongly 
developed  in  those  of  the  sea  coasts  of  New 
England. 

Visits  to  the  West  Indies  are  generally  the  first 
steps  taken  for  the  gratification  of  this  propensity: 
those  in  Foote's  case  stimulated  it  more  strongly, 
his  disposition  being  one  of  those  which  are  not 
discouraged,  but  invigorated  by  the  necessity  of 
submitting  to  unaccustomed  dangers,  privations 
and  labors.  After  a  few  vova^es  to  the  West 
India  Islands,  finding  them  not  sufficiently  profit- 
able to  repress  the  desire  of  more  adventur- 
ous roving,  and  of  a  wider  sphere  of  observation 
and  better  fields  for  increasing  his  knowledge  of 
the  world  and  its  inhabitants,  he  sought  for  a 
traffic  better  suited  to  these  objects. 


58  MEMOIR    OF     SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

A  proposition  being  made  to  him  to  conduct  a 
business  which  gave  fairer  promise  of  profit  and 
of  the  means  of  extending  his  knowledge  of  the 
world  and  of  commercial  operations  in  different 
regions,  among,  to  him,  a  new  and  strange  people, 
he  accepted  it.  This  was  the  importation  of  vari- 
ous African  products  from  Mogadore.  Goat  skins 
constituted  the  bulk  of  these  products;  they  in- 
cluded, also,  gums  and  drugs  of  various  kinds. 
The  merchandise  with  which  they  were  purchased 
consisting  chiefly  of  dry  goods  of  thin,  light  kinds, 
furnished  but  a  small  portion  of  the  outward  car- 
goes. These  were  made  up  of  articles  suited  to 
the  markets  of  Lisbon,  Cadiz  and  Teneriffe,  from 
which  ports  the  run  down  to  Mogadore  is  easy. 

In  this  trade  the  parties  concerned  were,  besides 
Samuel  E.  Foote,  the  firm  of  J.  &  J.  P.  Foote,  and 
William  Radcliff,  a  very  intelligent,  highly  edu- 
cated gentleman,  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree 
of  those  qualities  which  will  generally  insure  suc- 
cess in  any  line  of  life;  such  as  unwearied  in- 
dustry, economy  without  meanness,  unshrinking 
perseverance,  and  unquestioned  integrity.  These 
qualities  of  the  ''strong*'  did  not,  however,  enable 
him  to  win  the  race  or  gain  the  battle.  The  latter 
portion  of  a  career  marked  by  these  qualities,  was 
so  unfortunate  that  he  was  willing  in  his  old  age 
to  accept  of  banishment  from  friends  and  country 
for  the  poor  consulship  of  Lima. 

At  the  period  of  the  renewal  and  expansion  of 
the  foreign  commerce  of  the  United  States,  conse- 


MOGADORE.  59 

(juent  on  the  establishment  of  our  national  inde- 
pendence, a  feeling  of  freedom  from  the  restraints 
of  colonial  restrictions,  was  generally  experienced 
amonjr  our  merchants.  This  led  to  many  losses 
from  the  gratification  of  an  instinctive  love  of 
trade,  without  the  knowledge  necessary  to  its 
proper  management.  On  the  other  hand  many 
adventurers  succeeded  bv  the  mere  aid  of  fortunate 
accidents,  and  among  these  were  many  which  oc- 
curred in  the  commercial  countries  of  Europe 
through  the  changes  brought  about  by  the  French 
revolution.  This  revolution  gave  success  to.  and 
consequently  increased,  American  enterprize  dur- 
ing many  years  in  which  our  country  was  little 
thought  of  by  the  belligerents  of  Europe. 

The  attention,  however,  of  these  belligerent- 
was  awaked  by  perceiving  that  they  were  not 
only  engaged  in  "burning,  sinking  and  destroy- 
ing" eaeh  other,  and  making  themselves  poor 
thereby,  but  that  they  were  making  another 
nation  rich.  The  bone  of  commerce  for  which 
they  were  fighting,  was  picked  up  by  a  new  peo- 
ple, and  when  its  success  became  remarkable, 
excited  a  degree  of  envy  and  jealousy  which  an- 
noyed our  merchants,  and  eventually  influenced 
our  government  to  the  adoption  of  measures 
which  annoyed  them  still  more. 

The  hazards  attendant  on  commercial  adven- 
tures had  never  seemed  to  exert  much  influence 
in  restrainingthem.  On  the  contrary  they  seemed 
rather  to  stimulate  than  repress,  and  every  por- 


GO  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

tion  of  the  globe  was  put  to  the  question  and 
made  to  reveal  its  capacity  for  increasing  the 
commerce  of  the  United  States. 

The  continent  of  Africa  furnished  very  few 
articles  for  traffic  except  human  chattels,  and  our 
imports  from  the  middle  and  southern  portions  of 
that  continent,  consisting  of  beings  "found  guilty 
of  a  skin  not  coloured  like  our  own,''  was  con- 
tinued for  many  years  after  we  had  proclaimed  to 
the  world  our  belief  in  the  self-evident  proposition, 
"that  all  men  are  born  free  and  equal,"  and  alike 
entitled  to  enjoy  "life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness." 

The  inhabitants  of  the  north  of  Africa  were 
more  consistent  in  their  practice  of  making  slaves 
of  the  infidels  of  Europe  and  America,  and  giving 
them  the  opportunity  of  saving  their  souls  by  be- 
coming "true  believers'"  in  Allah  and  his  prophet. 

But,  with  an  inconsistency  very  common  in  the 
morality  of  nations,  we  considered  slavery,  when 
our  people  were  the  subjects,  a  horrible  enormity, 
and  after  disgracing  our  nation  for  awhile  by  pay- 
ing tribute  to  the  African  barbarians,  to  avert  it 
we  acquired  glory  by  chastising  and  compelling 
them  to  abandon  their  practice  of  enslaving 
Christians.* 


*The  resolute  daring  and  enterprising  courage  displayed  by  the  officer,* 
and  men  of  our  navy  in  the  course  of  the  brief  war  with  Algiers,  gave  the 
Americans  a  fame — a  prestige — along  the  whole  coast  of  Barbary,  as  well 
on  the  Atlantic  as  the  Mediterranean,  which  no  nation  had  ever  aoiuired. 

The  powerful  armaments  of  Christian  nations  had  failed — that  of  Charles  V 
most  signally  as  it  was  the  greatest — in  their  efforts  to  repress  the  piracies 


MOG ADOBE.  61 

The  inconsistency  of  our  professed  belief  on  the 
subject  of  slavery,  with  our  practice,  was  not 
quite  so  outrageous  after  the  law  prohibiting  th<* 
slave  trade  was  passed,  but  we  have  never  been 
able  to  exhibit  real  consistency  on  this  subject. 

After  men  and  women  had  ceased  to  be  articles 
of  traffic  with  Africa,  other  articles  were  sought, 
for,  and  palm-oil,  ivory,  goat  skins,  gums,  drugs, 
and  a  few  other  articles  supplied  a  small  amount 
of  commerce,  but  it  was  very  small  in  proportion 
to  the  very  extensive  regions  embraced  in  that 
continent.  The  strong  desire  to  discover  the 
course  and  mouth  of  the  Niger,  which  has  cost 
the  life  not  only  of  Mungo  Park,  but  of  many 
other  valuable  men,  was  due  as  much  to  the  desire 
of  increasing  a  trade  with  Africa,  as  for  discover- 
ing its  geographical  features.  In  that  with  Moga- 
dore,  the  above  named  parties  had  at  that  time 
no  American  competitors,  nor  has  it  ever  been  very 
attractive  to  our  merchants.  The  foreign  com- 
merce   of  that    port    was   transacted    chiefly    by 


of  the  Mediterranean  Barbary  States.  The  small  naval  force  of  the  United 
States,  a  young  and  weak  nation,  achieved  a  success  where  old  and  power- 
ful onos  had  failed.  The  cause  is  seen  in  the  different  character  of  the  men 
employed.  Every  American  engaged  in  that  war  seemed  ready  to  perform 
any  act  of  heroism  required  of  him,  totally  regardless  of  any  danger  by 
which  it  might  be  attended. 

<  'apt.  Foote  became  acquainted  with  the  cuinmunder  of  one  of  the  Algo- 
rine  vessels,  who  spoke  of  Decatur  and  his  associates  with  that  respect  and 
reverence  which  undaunted  courage  inspires— when  successful.  He  verified 
many  of  the  statements  published  at  the  time,  and  gave  others  whieh  ire 
regret  to  have  forgotten. 

6 


(52  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

William  Willshire,  the  British  Consul,  and  Wm. 
Court  A:  Co.,  an  English  house  of  extensive  com- 
mercial talents  and  experience. 

It  was  necessary  that  every  vessel  going  there 
for  a  cargo  should  carry  some  merchandise:  for 
the  Emperor,  on  one  of  his  visits  to  Mogadore, 
seeing  a  foreign  ship  lying  there,  inquired  what 
cargo  she  had  brought,  and  being  informed  that 
she  brought  nothing  but  money  to  purchase  goat 
skins,  made  a  decree  that  no  vessel  should  be  al- 
lowed to  take  away  the  products  of  his  Empire 
without  bringing  some  of  the  products  of  foreign 
countries  to  exchange  for  them.  This  trait  of 
paternal  solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  his  subjects.* 
resembles  those  of  despotic  rulers  generally,  who 
are  very  apt  to  consider  themselves  the  best 
judges  of  what  will  conduce  to  the  welfare  of  their 
subjects,  with  a  special  regard  to  their  commercial 
operations.  This,  however,  is  not  an  exclusive 
characteristic  of  despots,  as  we  shall  find  in  the 
case  of  Jefferson  and  the  American  embargo. 

The  decree  of  the  Emperor  of  Morocco  was  rigidly 
enforced,  as  Vie  was  in  the  habit  of  cutting  off  the 
hands  of  some  of  his  subjects,  and  the  heads  of 
others,  if  his  decrees  were  neglected  or  evaded; 
and  if  he  could  not  discover  the  guilty,  he  substi- 
tuted for  them  vicarious  subjects:  upon  the  same 
principle  that  dictated  the  laws  of  ancient  J»ome, 
by  which  all  the  slaves  belonging  to  a  master 
were,  in  case  of  his  murder,  put  to  death  without 
any  reference  to  their  guilt  or  innocence. 


MOG ADORE.  1 1.", 

The  surgical  practice  of  cutting  off  hands  was 
very  simple,  being  that  of  merely  severing  them 
from  the  wrist  by  the  blow  of  a  cleaver,  and  dip- 
ing  the  stump  in  boiling  pitch  as  a  substitute  for 
tying  the  arteries.  The  excision  of  heads  was  a 
still  more  simple  operation,  requiring  no  care  of 
the  arteries.  Both  of  these  operations  were  SO 
frequent  as  to  cause  no  great  excitement. 

Ani  1  lustration  of  our  seend  motto  was  ex- 
hibited in  some  incidents  connected  with  the 
Mogadore  trade.  Among  the  imports  from  that 
port,  was  included  a  variety  of  gums  and  drugs, 
and  these  included  at  one  time,  a  quantity  of 
semen  santonicum  (worm  seed)  so  large  that  it 
completely  glutted  the  market.  The  manufacture 
of  worm  seed  oil  had  been  commenced,  and  it  was 
supposed  would  require  a  large  supply  of  the  raw 
material.  This  expectation  was  not  fulfilled,  and 
the  article  remained  on  hand  longer  than  the 
patience  of  the  owners  could  be  kept  under  due 
restraint.  They  therefore  resolved  to  make  ex- 
periments with  it  in  foreign  markets,  Avhich  they 
did  with  very  discouraging  results,  except  in  one 
instance.  At  Havana  the  bales  were  thrown 
overboard,  that  being  the  easiest  Avay  of  paying 
the  custom  house  duties;  in  one  or  two  other  ports 
the  market  was  little  better,  but  at  St.  Peters- 
burg the  profits  were  enormous,  and  the  pro- 
ceeds being  invested  in  Prussia  linens,  arrived  at 
New  York  at  a  period  when  the  market  was 
very   bare   of  those    articles,    and   gave    another 


64  MEMOIR    OK    SAMUEL    E.     KOOTE. 

handsome  profit,.  This  extraordinary  success  en- 
couraged the  shippers  to  hope  that  the  Russian 
market  would  be  a  very  important  one  for  in- 
creasing the  profits  of  their  Mogadore  trade,  and 
they  were  thereby  induced  to  make  a  much  larger 
shipment  to  that  market,  including  other  articles 
of  African  produce,  which  were  lying  heavy  on 
their  hands  in  ]STew  York.  This  adventure  was 
peculiarly  unfortunate.  It  went  to  so  bad  a 
market  at  St.  Petersburg,  that  the  consignees  in 
the  hope  of  being  enabled  to  give  a  better  account 
of  it  than  their  market  would  afford,  determined 
to  try  that  of  Moscow,  hoping  to  be  able  not  only 
to  give  a  good  account  of  this  adventure,  but  to 
open  a  new  market  for  African  products,  by  which 
the  profits  of  the  Mogadore  trade  might  be  in- 
creased. The  account  of  sales,  however,  was 
superseded  by  the  account  of  the  burning  of 
Moscow,  after  its  capture  by  the  "grande  armee 
of  Napoleon  le  grand,''  the  adventure  being  among 
the  merchandise  destroyed. 

The  return  of  this  army  after  the  conflagration 
was  an  exemplification  of  our  second  motto  on  a 
large  scale ;  the  snow  and  ice  of  Russia  being  more 
powerful  adversaries  than  man.  Like  gentle. 
quiet  female  influences,  stronger  than  masculine 
powers,  the  soft  gentle  snow  and  quiet  ice  of 
Russia  performed  greater  feats  of  conquest  than 
the  greatest  and  best  army,  led  by  the  most  skill- 
ful and  experienced  generals  of  modern  times, 
•would  accomplish,  although   fresh  from  the  work 


MOG  ADORE.  65 

of  desolation  which  they  had  spread  over  the 
fairest  countries  of  Europe.  "Havoc,  spoil  and 
ruin  are  my  gain,"  seemed  to  be  the  appropriate 
motto  for  the  advancing  armies,  and  '-the  spoiler 
spoiled"  for  the  same  armies  on  their  retreat.  No 
event  of  history  -points  a  moral"  more  emphati- 
callv  than  this  retreat  from  Moscow.  It  includes, 
also,  many  scenes  and  events,  not  only  among  the 
rich  and  powerful,  but  among  those  in  the  hum- 
bler walks  of  life,  that  would  exhibit  more  intel- 
ligibly to  common  minds,  the  keenness  of  the 
point  and  the  applicability  of  the  moral,  if  they 
could  be  displayed. 

At  the  period  of  one  of  Foote's  voyages  to 
Mogadore,  the  merino  mania  was  prevailing  in  the 
United  States,  as  extensively  as  the  "hen  fever," 
and  the  morus  multicaulis  excitement,  have  pre- 
vailed at  subsequent  periods.  Search  was  made. 
at  that  time,  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  for  wool- 
bearing  animals  that  would  furnish  the  fine  kinds 
of  wool  neccessary  for  the  manufacture  of  the 
finest  fabrics.  He  was  at  that  time  informed,  that 
in  the  province  of  Tedlah.  there  was  a  breed  of 
sheep  with  fine  silky  fleeces,  superior  to  those  of 
the  merinos.  Of  course  he  could  not  fail  to  be 
anxious  to  obtain  so  valuable  an  addition  to  our 
American  flocks.  Although  the  exportation  of 
animals,  of  every  kind,  was  strictly  prohibited  in 
Morocco,  yet  permission  might  be  obtained  to 
take  a  certain  number  of  sheep  for  ships'  stores, 
provided  thev  were  males,  no  females  of  any  kind 


66  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.  POOTE. 

feeing  allowed  to  be  exported  on  any  considera- 
tion.    Of  this  he  intended  to  take  advantage  bv 
sending  an  agent  to  procure  some  specimens  of 
these  sheep.      As  all  commercial  operations  with 
the  interior  are,  in  that  country,  transacted   bv 
the  Jews,  he  employed  one  of  them  to  go  to  Ted- 
lah.  and  procure  for  him  some  of  these  valuable 
animals.     He  went  there  and  purchased  the  num- 
ber wanted;  and  the  only  mode  of  transportation 
of  merchandise,  in    that    country,    being    on  the 
backs  of  camels,  he  had  boxes  made  of  the  proper 
dimensions  and  form,  for  containing  his  live  mer- 
chandise, and  swung  them,  as  John  Gilpin  did  his 
bottles,  a  box   'on  each  side  to  make  the  balance 
t  rue."    But  the  result  was  far  from  any  resemblance 
to  John's  comic  adventure.   In  his  journey  towards 
Mogadore,  his  course  was  through  an  intermedi- 
ate province,  the  governor  of  which  chanced  to 
notice  his  novel  method  of  transporting  animals, 
and  being,  like  all  barbarians,  a  strict  conserva- 
tive, was,  of  course,  strongly  opposed  to  any  inno- 
vation in  the  habits  and  practices  of  true  believers, 
especially  if  made  by  a  Jew,  at  the  instigation  of 
an  infidel.     His  principles  of  jurisprudence  were 
so  simple,  that  Jeremy  Bentham  could  not  easilv 
have    suggested  any  mode  of  simplifying   them, 
though  he  might  have  found   'fallacies,"  as  striking 
as  in  more  complex  systems.      The  mode  of  pro- 
ceeding in  this  case  w~as,  to  administer  the  basti- 
nado to  the  Jew,  confiscate  his  cargo,  and  put  him 
is    prison,   until    the  Emperor's  pleasure    in    the 


EDUCATION.  1)7 

matter  could  be  made  known.  This,  which  al- 
ways partakes  of  the  simplicity  of  the  criminal 
jurisprudence  of  that  region,  was  expected  to  be 
shown  in  an  order  to  cut  off  the  .lews  head,  or 
dismiss  him  with  the  jloss  of  his  cargo,  and  the 
lesson  of  instruction  given  by  the  bastinado  he 
had  received,  warning  him  against  the  introduc- 
tion of  any  novelty  in  the  mode  of  conveying  ani- 
mals in  Morocco.  The  life  of  a  Jew  was  of  so  lit- 
tle consequence  in  that  country,  that  Capt.  Foote 
<-ould  not  learn  his  fate. 

The  loss  of  the  money,  entrusted  to  his  agent, 
was  not  of  sufficient  importance  to  discourage  fur- 
ther attempts  to  obtain  some  of  these  valuable 
animals,Hbut  the  risk  of  life,  or  even  of  bastinado 
and  imprisonment,  was  too  great  a  price  to  pay, 
even  for  finer  wooled  sheep  than  merinos. 

These  animals  were  afterwards  supposed  to  be 
Angora,  or  Cashmere  goats,  some  of  which  were. 
at  a  subsequent  period,  imported  from  Asia,  and 
are  now  propagated  in  Alabama  and  Georgia. 
They  probably  do  not  furnish  so  profitable  an  ar- 
ticle of  cultivation  as  cotton,  and  as  "  Cotton  is 
King,"  in  those  regions,  it,  like  other  kings,  tole- 
rates no  other  rival  near  the  throne.  It  is  proba- 
ble, however,  that  at  no  very  distant  day,  Cash- 
mere goat's  wool,  will  be  included  among  the  val- 
uable products  of  our  Southern  States,  and  per- 
haps may,  when  the  efforts  to  give  success  to  the 
cultivation  of  cotton  in  Asia  and  Africa,  take  from 


(v*  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL     E.    FOOTE. 

the  United  States  their  monopoly  of  that  cultiva- 
tion, give  us  a  new  staple,  equally  valuable. 

Capt.  Riley  was  heard  of  as  a  prisoner  and 
slave,  among  the  Arabs  of  the  desert,  at  the  time 
of  one  of  Capt.  Foote's  visits  to  Mogadore,  and 
much  interest  in  his  fate  was  excited  among  the 
few  Christian  inhabitants  of  that  place.  Efforts 
for  the  rescue  of  him  and  his  companions  were 
planned,  but  the  British  Consul,  AVilliam  Will- 
shire,  had  the  happiness  of  being  the  agent  of 
their  redemption,  and  giving  them,  with  the  most 
kind  and  friendly  liberality,  the  aid  and  comfort 
they  needed.  The  town  of  Wiltshire,  in  Ohio,  is 
named  in  honor  of  him,  and  if  all  honors  bestowed 
on  cotemporaries,  were  as  worthily  bestowed,  it 
would  be  better  for  mankind. 

The  United  States,  at  that  time,  had  no  Consul 
:tt  Mogadore,  but  Mr.  O'Sullivan  was  soon  after 
appointed  t<>  that  office,  and  held  it  many  years, 
with  credit  and  with  abilities  worthy  of  a  better 
station. 

The  Moors  of  that  part  of  Barbary  take  but 
little  interest  in  commercial  affairs,  which,  in  the 
seaports,  are  in  the  hands  of  foreigners,  and  in 
those  of  the  'Jews  in  the  interior.  The  native 
Moors  are  as  averse  to  degrading  themselves  by 
productive  labor  as  our  southern  planters,  or  the 
aborigines  of  our  country.  The  Jews  are  there 
an  oppressed  and  despised  race,  treated  with  oblo- 
quy and  contempt,  by  a  people  that,  like  them- 
selves, has  sunk  from  a  higher  to  a  lower  state  of 


MOGADOKK.  GO 

civilization  and  refinement,  in  which  state  men 
lose  their  best  and  retain  their  worst  qualities. 
They  are  superior  in  character  to  their  superiors 
in  station  and  national  standing  ;  for  they  possess 
some  degreee  of  commercial  enterprise,  a  quality 
which  will  always  elevate  any  people  when  the 
government  does  not  restrain  and  limit  it,  as  in 
China,  and  other  semi-civilized  nations;  but  on 
the  contrary,  encourages  it,  as  the  British  govern- 
ment has  done,  since  the  commencement  of  the 
career  of  that  nation,  in  civilization  and  social 
improvement.  Having  neither  the  stimulant  of 
commerce,  nor  of  the  necessitv  of  contending 
against  a  wintry  climate,  for  the  means  of  subsis- 
fence,  they  are  in  a  state  of  society,  in  which 
their  good  qualities  being  such  as  are  generated  by 
indolence,  and  their  evil  ones  not  untimely  devel- 
oped, or  intensified  by  alcoholic  drinks,  they  veg- 
etate rather  than  live.  For  they  have  no  amuse- 
ments in  which  females  can  share,  and  are  there- 
Fore  condemned  to  live,  "in  dull  repose.'' 

•:  No  joy  that  sparkles  and  no  tear  that  flows/' 

This  state  of  society  was  so  intolerable  to  Capt. 
Foote,  that  ho  purchased  an  "Arab  Steed,"  on 
whose  back  he  could  race  at  full  speed  over  the 
sands,  and  thereby  soothe  his  impatience,  his 
horse  seeming  more  intelligent  and  capable  of 
understanding  the  feelings  of  his  master  better, 
than  the   lazy  Moors,  who  lived  without  excite- 


76  MEMOIR    OF     SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

ment,  and  could  not   comprehend  how  anything 

but  fighting  could  rouse  or  need  that  quality. 

The  measures  of  our  government  put  an  end  to 
this  and  all  other  foreign  commerce,  in  the  year 
1807,  and  it  was  never  renewed. 


THE    EMBARGO.  7i 


CM A  PTEB      V 


THE     KM  KAROO. 


"It  cannot  be  but  a  matter  of  doubtful  consequence,  if  States  be  man- 
aged by  empiric  Statesmen,  not  well  mingled  wJtli  men,  well  grounded  l» 
leurnins;  " — Bacox, 


In  the  year  1807,  an  embargo  was  laid  on  all 
the  shipping  in  the  ports  and  harbors  of  the  Uni- 
ted States.  This  measure  was  not  in  accordance 
with  the  generally  received  meaning  of  the  term, 
a  mere  prohibition  of  the  sailing  of  our  ships  for 
foreign  ports,  during  a  limited  and  specified  peri- 
od of  time,  but  an  entirely  novel  experiment  in 
national  policy.  It  was  proclaimed  t<>  be  intend- 
ed as  a  measure,  both  of  offense  and  defense,  in 
relation  to  the  European  belligerents,  by  cutting 
off  all  commerce,  not  only  with  them,  but  with 
the  whole  world.  Their  insults,  piracies  and  rob- 
beries of  neutrals  on  the  high  seas,  and  in  their 
own  ports,  had  been  so  flagrant  and  outrageous, 
that  our  country  had  become  despised  and  dis- 
graced bv  submitting  to  them,  alter  an  armed  re- 
sistence  to  those  of  France. 

The  party  in  our  country  which  assumed  the  name 
and  style  of  Republican,  in  lieu  of  that  of  anti-fede- 
ral, consisting  of  the  anti-commercial  slave-owners 


1'i  MEMOIR    OF   SAMUEL    E.    POOTE. 

of  the  south,  and  the  discontented,  restless  and  am- 
bitious politicians  of  the  North,  had  succeeded  in 
obtaining  the  control  of  the  government.  Themeas  • 
ures  adopted  under  the  administration  of  Wash- 
ington and  his  successor,  John  Adams,  for  obtain- 
ing redress  for  past  wrongs,  and  security  for  the 
future,  had  furnished  a  theme  for  clamor  against 
their  policy,  under  the  pretense  that  it  was  ruin- 
ing the  nation  by  extravagance,  in  building  ships 
of  war,  and  fortifying  our  harbors.  The  ill-ad- 
vised measure  of  Adams,  in  raising  a  land-army, 
had  intensified  this  idea  and  carried  its  ramifica- 
tions deep  into  the  feelings  of  all  classes,  who 
were,  some  of  them,  ashamed,  and  others  mad- 
dened, by  a  sight  of  the  parades  of  soldiers  in 
their  towns  and  villages,  without  any  apparent 
object  or  necessity.  The  :i  alien  and  sedition  laws." 
also,  were  so  wrested,  by  party  zealots,  from  their 
true  intent,  as  to  give  great  force  to  the  denunci- 
ations  of  the  Federal  party,  by  demagogues. 

The  Anti-Federalist  party  adopted  Jefferson  as 
their  leader,  and  succeeded  in  wresting  the  reins 
of  o-overnmcnt  from"  the  hands  of  those  who  had 
been  the  most  active  and  efficient  agents  in  achiev- 
ing our  independence  and  establishing  our  system 
of  government.  In  order  to  justify  the  change  of 
men,  it  was  necessary  to  adopt  a  change  of  meas- 
ures, and  under  new  auspices,  to  preserve  the  na- 
tion from  retrograding  towards  those  of  the  old 
monarchies  of  Europe.  Jefferson,  being  consid- 
ered by  his  supporters  and  himself,  a  philosopher, 


THE    EMBARGO.  73 

he  thought  it  proper,  in  tin*  new  country,  which 
had  established  an  entirely  new  system  of  govern- 
ment, to  introduce  a  novel  and  philosophical  sys,- 
teni  of  statesmanship.  This  he  commenced  by 
removing  from  office  such  of  the  wise  and  expe- 
rienced officers  in  the  civil  department  as  he  sup- 
posed might  embarrass  his  system  of  reform,  by 
their  common  sense  view  of  measures,  and  then 
inaugurating  his  foreign  policy  by  prohibiting 
foreign  commerce.  The  course  pursued  thence- 
forward, until  the  country  could  endure  it  no 
longer — it  being  a  course  of  embargo,  gun  boats, 
dry  docks,  and  French  philosophy  generally — was 
an  exemplification  of  the  dangers — referred  to  in 
our  first  chapter — to  our  country  and  to  freedom 
generally,  which  arise  from  giving  empirical,  in- 
capable statesmen,  the  control  of  national  affairs, 
and  investing  them  with  the  power  of  controlling 
the  political  progress  of  their  country. 

These  measures  were  not  merely  ridiculous, 
but — the  embargo  specially — more  unjust  and  un- 
equally oppressive  than  could  have  been  forseen 
or  feared  bv  anv  of  the  founders  or  advocates  of 
our  system  of  government.  It,  (the  embargo,) 
was  a  measure  which  might  have  been  considered 
as  perfectly  in  character,  if  adopted  by  such  states- 
men as  those  of  China,  Morocco,  Japan,  and  other 
nations  of  similar  repute  and  standing  in  relation 
to  the  knowledge  and  practice  of  political  science. 
It  was.  if  characterized  bv  its  influence  and  cau- 
ses,  a  declaration  of  war  against,  our  own  commerce, 

7 


r4  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

in  retaliation  for  the  insults  and  injuries  inflicted 
upon  it  by  the  European  belligerents.  Compar- 
ing great  things  with  small,  it  was  like  the  con- 
duct of  an  individual  beating  and  abusing  his 
wife  and  children  at  home,  to  gratify  his  resent- 
ment for  insults  received  abroad.  Its  disastrous 
influence  on  the  prosperity  of  our  country  can 
scarcely  be  realized,  at  the  present  time.  Even 
the  subsequent  declaration  of  war  against  Great 
Britain — after  a  course  of  measures,  of  which  the 
tendency  was  to  deprive  us  of  the  power  of  mak- 
ing offensive  war — although  equally  impolitic,  was 
not  quite  so  silly  a  measure.  It  was  not  so  disas- 
trous in  its  effects  on  our  country's  prosperity,  and 
it  gave  ns  an  opportunity  of  retrieving  the  repu- 
tation we  had  lost,  among  other  nations,  by  the 
inappropriate  measures  of  weak,  conceited  states- 
men. 

There  was  this  difference  in  the  inception  of  the 
measures,  and  they  exhibit  the  empiric,  and  the 
experienced  and  sagacious,  but  weak  statesman. 
Jefferson  forced  the  embargo  upon  his  party,  Mad- 
ison's part}'  forced  the  war  upon  him,  for  it  was  a 
measure  he  dreaded,  because  he  possessed  sufli- 
cient  political  sagacity  to  understand  the  danger 
of  making  war  without  being  prepared,  or  count- 
ing the  cost.  For  he  had  belonged  to  that  band 
of  profound,  wise  and  experienced  statesmen,  who 
conducted  the  affairs  of  our  revolution,  established 
the  constitution  of  our  country,  and  organized, 
under   it,  the   system  of  conducting   the  various 


THE    EMBARGO.  <0 

departments  of  government.  Washington,  as  a 
leader,  had  assoeiated  with  him  such  patriots  as 
Hamilton,  Jay,  Eufus  King,  the  Morrises,  Pick- 
ering, the  Adamses,  and  other  heroes  and  sages 
of  the  revolution,  possessing  talents  to  plan  and 
carry  into  effect  a  republican  system  of  govern- 
ment, upon  a  federal  basis.  These  men  laid  the 
foundations  of  our  government  so  deep  and  strong, 
that  although  many  checks  and  obstacles  have 
been  placed  in  the  way  of  its  progress,  they  have 
not  been  able  to  arrest  its  course  of  prosperity. 
Xo  other  attempt  to  establish  a  federal  republican 
system  of  government  has  succeeded,  because  no 
other  nation  was  founded  by  men,  who  made  the 
establishment  of  the  Christian  religion  in  its  pu- 
rity— according  to  their  belief — an  object  para- 
mount to  the  acquisition  of  wealth.* 

Madison's  defect  was  a  weakness  of  will,  which 
caused  him  to  submit  to  the  dictates  of  party  lead- 
ers, inferior  to  himself  in  talents  and  experience. 

Jefferson's  defect  was  that  of  supposing  him- 
self qualified  to  become  a  statesman,  for  which  he 
was  specially  disqualified. 

A  permanent  embargo  as  a  measure  of  retalia- 
tion for  national  injuries  and  insults,  was  an  orig- 
inal idea  with  him,  of  which  no  one  has  ever  dis- 
puted the  merit  of  the  invention,  unless,  indeed,  it 
may  have  been  borrowed  from  the  course  of  policy 


*  The  Huguenot?,  at  the  South,  and  the  Puritans,  were  alike  governetl 
by  this  principle. 


76  MEMOIR     OF   SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

adopted  by  Japan,  some  centuries  ago.  He  was 
a  man  of  amiable  manners,  and  possessed  an  ex- 
tensive superficial  knowledge  of  the  literature 
and  science  of  the  day.  He  was  qualified  to  be  a 
philosopher  as  philosojmers  went  at  that  period r 
and  it  was  particularly  unfortunate  for  the  coun- 
try that  he  did  not  possess  a  juste  r  appreciation 
of  his  own  qualifications,  as  well  as  the  duties  of 
a  chief  magistrate. 

Short  as  has  been  the  period  of  our  history,  it 
furnishes  useful  lessons  in  that  philosophy  which 
teaches  by  example,  and  gives  warnings  which  are 
seen,  acknowledged,  and — neglected. 

Politicians  who  experience  a  call  to  assume  the 
duties  and  functions  of  demagogues,  are  as  averse 
to  useful  lessons  as  truant  school  bovs,  and  as  heed- 
less  of  warnings  as  railroad  officials.  Thus  instruc- 
tions and  warnings  are  wasted,  and  the  commun- 
ity pays  the  price  of  its  neglect  of  the  earliest  du- 
ty of  a  people  under  a  free  government,  that, 
namely,  of  a  rigid  investigation  of,  not  merely  the 
reputation,  but  the  characters  of  those  to  whom 
the  management  of  their  national  affairs  is  com- 
mitted, and  a  judicious  selection  of  agents,  best 
qualified  to  conduct  them;  for  reputations  often 
ate  made  or  destroyed  by  interested  political  par- 
ti zans. 

When  the  embargo  was  laid  and  proclaimed  to 
be  intended  as  a  permanent  institution — perma- 
nent at  least,  until  it  should  bring  the  European 
belligerents  to  our  feet,  humbly  to  beg  for  supplies 


THE    EMBARGO.  i  < 


i  cotton  and  flour — the  commercial  cities  and 
states  submitted  to  it  for  awhile,  in  moody  quiet 
and  silence,  apparently  stunned  by  such  an  unex- 
pected and  sudden  destruction  of  the  means  of 
subsistence  to  thousands  of  the  poorer  classes,  and 
of  a  sudden  paralysis  of  the  efforts  of  the  enter- 
prising and  industrious.  The  impolicy  of  totally 
destroying*  our  commerce  ourselves,  because  for- 
eign nations  were  trying  to  destroy  certain  por- 
tions of  it,  was  very  manifest  to  the  immediate 
sufferers;  but  those  whose  experience  of  its  effects 
was  more  remote,  had  not  that  realizing  sense  of 
its  tendency,  not  merely  to  impoverish,  but  to  de- 
moralize the  citizens,  which  was  requisite  to  unite 
them  in  adopting  the  means  of  obtaining  relief 
by  transferring  the  government  to  wiser  men. 

There  was,  however,  among  them,  so  large  a 
portion  of  believers  in  the  doctrines  of  freedom, 
which,  since  the  establishment  of  our  independ- 
ence, had  been  constant  themes  of  writers  and  ora- 
tors, that  freedom  of  speech,  in  relation  to  a  meas- 
ure so  oppressive,  was  freely  indulged,  and  freedom 
of  action  was  so  ardently  desired  as  to  excite  the 
proverbial  inventive  faculty  of  the  universal  Yan- 
kee nation.  The  law  establishing  the  embargo 
was  considered  impolitic,  unequally  oppressive, 
and  its  character  as  a  permanent  institution  un- 
constitutional. Submission  to  an  oppressive  act 
of  tyranny,  adopted  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  a 
weak  minded  ruler  to  make  a  foolish  experiment, 
was  not  considered  a  patriotic  duty.  A  belief  in 
7* 


78  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

the  maxim,  that  "the  king  can  do  no  wrong," 
even  when  the  king  is  a  party  leader,  with  the 
title  of  President,  was  not  so  general  as  in  the 
contrary  maxim,  that  "resistance  to  tyrants  is 
obedience  to  God."'  The  contest  between  the  two 
parties  which  resulted  in  the  election  of  Jefferson 
to  the  presidency,  was  so  severe  and  bitter,  that 
the  victors  bestowed — as  usual  in  such  cases — un- 
limited power  on  their  leader,  and  received  his 
commands  with  unhesitating  obedience,  and  thus 
he  was  enabled  to  make  those  experiments  which 
demonstrated  his  Avant  of  the  qualifications  of  a 
statesman. 

Resistance,  by  force,  to  an  oppressive  party  meas- 
ure, however,  was  not,  although  advocated  by  many 
of  the  discontented,  seriously  thought  of,  since  a 
civil  war,  whatever  the  result,  would  be  the  greatest 
of  all  evils,  however  justifiable  it  might  be  consid- 
ered under  intolerable  oppressions.  The  system 
of  misrule,  through  party  tyranny,  under  which 
they  were  suffering,  arose,  in  part,  as  was  sup- 
posed, from  the  jealousy  of  the  southern  nabobs — 
the  negro-slave  aristocracy — of  what  they  styled, 
uthe  cod-fish  aristocracy."  It  was  excited  by 
seeing  that  prosperous  commerce  would  enable 
some  northern  merchants  to  dash  as  extravagantly, 
and  spend  money  as  foolishly,  as  those  planters 
who  could  exercise  lordship  over  gangs  of  negro 
slaves,  and  who  exhibited  their  love  of  liberty  by 
taking  it  from  as  many  of  tbe  African  race  as 
they  could  get  in  their  power.      The  idea  of  the 


THE    EMBARGO.  79 

savages,  that  they  could  inherit  all  the  desirable 
qualities  of  every  enemy  they  killed,  appeared  to 
be  modified  by  them  into  a  belief  that  their  own 
freedom  was  increased  bv  taking  it  from  others. 

The  southern  aristocracy  who  then,  as  now. 
constituted  the  leaders  of  the  Democratic  party, 
understood  the  character  of  negro  slaves  better 
than  that  of  Yankee  freemen — the  former  having 
necessarily  claimed  much  of  their  attention,  while 
the  latter  were  considered  unworthy  of  it,  because 
obliged  to  labor  for  themselves. 

Yankee  contrivances  have  long  been  proverbial ; 
their  situation  from  the  time  of  the  first  settlement 
of  their  countrvhaving  required  a  frequent  exercise 
of  the  talent  of  invention,  to  supply  wants  originat- 
ing in  an  old  and  highly  civilized  country,  which, 
in  a  new  and  savage  region,  could  not  easily  be 
gratified.  Under  the  pressure  of  the  embargo,  re- 
garding it  as  they  did  in  the  light  of  a  tyrannical 
and  ruinous  measure,  they  exercised  their  inven- 
tive faculties  in  contriving  methods  of  evasion. 
The  transfer  of  cotton  across  the  southern  fron- 
tier, to  Amelia  Island,  and  shipping  it  in  British 
vessels,  and  of  various  articles  from  Passama- 
quoddy,  and  across  the  lake,  were  among  the  ear- 
liest operations  for  nullifying  the  embargo  law; 
subsequently  it  was  found  practicable  to  obtain 
the  connivance  of  government  officers  for  open 
violations  of  it. 

Soon  after  its  effects  began  to  be  felt,  Foote  had 
been    commissioned   by   two    merchants    in    Xew 


80  MEMOIR    OF     SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

York,  to  conduct  some  mercantile  operations 
abroad,  and  sailed  in  the  Echo,  Capt.  Bates,  for 
Europe.  His  business  was  commenced  at  Liver- 
pool, and  gave  promise  of  prosperous  results. 
But  the  arrival  there  of  the  ships,  which,  through 
the  connivance  of  custom  house  officers,  had  eva- 
ded the  embargo,  reduced  the  profits  ot  his  specu- 
lations to  a  moderate  percentage,  after  having 
given  promise  of  a  very  great  profit.  These  ships, 
fitted  out  by  G.  M.  AYoolsey,  and  other  New  York 
merchants,  produced  effects  beyond  the  calculations 
or  intentions  of  the  owners,  on  the  permanence 
of  the  embargo,  as  well  as  of  the  price  of  cotton. 
In  England  it  gave  new  proof  of  the  weakness  of  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  and  caused  their 
new  invented  plan  of  making  war  to  be  regarded  as 
a  burlesque.  And  it  was  the  more  disgraceful  from 
complicity  of  government  officers,  some  of  whom 
were  changed  in  consequence,  and  were  succeeded 
by  others  still  more  corrupt.  •  It  was  treated  with 
ridicule  in  the  British  parliament,  when  it  was 
proposed  to  abandon  it.  upon  condition  of  the 
abandonment  of  some  of  their  high-handed,  ar- 
bitrary proceedings  on  the  high  seas,  such  as  im- 
pressment of  seamen,  paper  blockades,  etc.,  au- 
thorizing acts  of  piracy,  and  subjecting  neutrals 
to  intolerable  insults.  By  our  own  government 
it  was  felt  that  the  embargo  war  was  undergoing 
a  disgraceful  defeat,  and  that  some  new  course 
must  be  adopted.     Non -intercourse  and  non-im- 


THE     EMBARGO.  81 

portation  substitutes  were  tried,  and  failed  sig- 
nally and  disgracefully. 

After  the  termination  of  Foote's  commercial  op- 
erations at  Liverpool,  he  went  to  the  West  Indies 
for  the  purpose  of  transacting  some  business  there, 
which  yielded  some  small  profits,  and  gave  him 
an  opportunity  of  visiting  nearly  all  the  islands, 
and.  acquiring  much  knowledge,  which  was  after- 
wards of  practical  usefulness. 

Tpon  the  repeal  of  the  embargo  law,  he  re- 
turned to  New  York  and  resumed  his  business 
there. 


Appendix  No.  2. 


82  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 


CHAPTER    VI 

THE    WAR. 


"  So  war  untired,  his  crimson  pinions  spread." — IIeber. 
"  Whence  come  wars  and  fightings?" 


The  Jeffersonian  experiment  of  making  war 
upon  the  commerce  of  our  own  country,  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  the  old  fashioned  modes  of  attacking 
its  enemies,  having  been  fully  tested  and  found 
wanting,  some  new  experiment  in  statesmanship 
was  thought  necessary.  The  first  trial  was  made 
by  the  non-intercourse  and  non-importation  law, 
prohibiting  the  introduction  of  British  goods  into 
the  United  States,  substituting  thereby  as  ene- 
mies, the  English  manufacturers  for  the  American 
merchants.  This  was  a  mark  of  improvement  in 
knowledge  acquired  by  our  statesmen,  who  had 
begun  to  discover  what  would  have  been  the  re- 
sult of  the  embargo  experiment,  if  it  could  have 
been  carried  into  effect  in  conformity  with  its  in- 
tent and  meaning.  It  might,  in  such  case,  have 
rendered  us  as  independent  of  foreign  powers  as 
was  a  governor  of  Mogadore.  who,  when  a  Brit- 
ish admiral  threatened  to  batter  down  his  town. 
if  a  certain  demand    on  him    was    not    complied 


THE     WAR.  33 

with,  returned  for  answer,  that  if  the  admiral 
would  pay  him  half  the  amount  of  the  cost  of  bat- 
tering down  the  town,  he  would  order  it  pulled 
down  himself 

Mr.  Jefferson,  the  inventor  of  cheap  substitutes. 
had  retired  to  private  life,  and  those  upon  whom  he 
left  his  mantle,  had  begun  to  feel  restive  from  ob- 
serving that  his  measures  rendered  us  ridiculous 
and  contemptible.  The  non-intercourse  law,  if  it 
had  been  tried  before  the  embargo,  might  have 
produced  some  effect,  but  all  the  measures  of  the 
Jeffersonian  democratic  party  had  been  so  much 
more  calculated  to  sink,  than  to  raise,  the  reputa- 
tion of  our  country,  that  they  began  to  feel  that 
the  old-fashioned  method  of  settling  disputes  be- 
tween nations,  "by  trying  which  could  do  the 
other  the  most  harm,"  could  not  be  made  effective 
by  embargoes,  non-intercourse,  and  gun-boats,  but 
required  a  return  to  the  old  fashioned  system  of 
opposing  our  enemies  with  force  and  arms,  on  a  na- 
tional scale.  After  long  and  wearisome  debates  it 
was  finally  determined  that  nothing  remained  but 
to  rush  headlong  into  a  war,  for  which,  instead  of 
making  due  preparations,  the  Jeffersonian  party, 
from  the  time  they  got  into  power,  had  been  en- 
gaged in  destroying  the  preparations  made  by 
their  predecessors. 

This  return  to  first  principles,  in  national  affair- 
included  the  laying  of  a  temporary  embargo,  in 
order  to  allow  vessels  abroad  to  return,  and  es- 
cape capture   before   the  war,  and   thereby  save 


84  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

them  from  being-  exposed  to  the  hazards  of  war, 
without  being  aware  of  them.  When  Avar  should 
be  proclaimed,  every  one  would  be,  in  such  a  case. 
at  libertv  to  judge  for  himself  of  the  risk  he  mi^ht. 
encounter,  and  be  governed  thereby,  according  to 
his  own  discretion. 

The  intention  of  the  dominant  party  to  lay  an 
embargo,  was  communicated  to  J.  P.  Foote.  by  a 
friend  of  his  in  that  party,  but  it  was  not  stated 
that  it  was  to  be  a  preparation  for  war  measures. 
The  idea,  that  our  government  would  declare  war 
against  Great  Britain,  after  so  long  a  period  in 
which  its  policy  had  been  chiefly  directed  to  des- 
troying the  means  of  carrying  on  a  war,  was  too 
monstrous  an  absurdity  to  be  considered  a  suppos- 
able  case.  For  besides  the  reduction  of  our  na- 
vy, the  means  of  procuring  ;'the  sinews  of  war," 
had  been  among  the  destructive  operations  of  the 
party  in  power.  They  had  destroyed  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States,  which,  as  a  financial  agent, 
was  absolutely  necessary,  as  the  war  of  the  Rev- 
olution had  taught  them,  and  they  had  insulted, 
and  abused,  and  alienated  most  of  that  class  of 
men  from  whom  they  could  expect  to  obtain  loans 
on  the  most  favorable  terms,  so  that  they  were 
obliged  to  submit  to  new  humiliations  in  their 
efforts  to  procure  pecuniary  aid. 

The  brothers,  on  receiving  information  of  the 
intended  embargo,  were  fitting  out  the  ship  Pas- 
senger, which  they  had  purchased  for  the  Cadiz 
and  Mogadore  trade,  and  supposing  that  our  gov- 


THE    WAR.  85 

crnment  was  returning — like  the  sow  to  her  wal- 
lowing in  the  mire — to  the  Jeffersonian  system  of 
making  war,  not  on  our  enemies  but  on  our  com- 
merce, labored  night  and  day  for  several  days  and 
nights,  abandoning  the  Mogadore  department  of 
the  adventure,  to  get  her  safely  beyond  the  reach 
of  custom-house  officers  and  revenue  cutters,  in 
which  they — unfortunately,  as  the  event  proved — 
succeeded. 

The  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  of  Buonaparte, 
which  denationalized  and  rendered  liable  to  cap- 
ture and  condemnation,  any  American  vessels 
which  should  be  found  on  the  high  seas,  going  to 
or  from  any  British  port,  and  the  British  "Orders 
in  Council,"  prohibiting  all  trade  by  neutrals  with 
France  or  her  dependencies,  professedly  in  retali- 
ation for  these  decrees  ;  the  impressment  of  our 
seamen  and  the  capture  of  the  Chesapeake,  fur- 
nished sufficient  ground  for  a  war  with  Great  Bri- 
tain. By  these  outrages  both  nations  were  dis- 
graced :  the  one  by  the  piratical  insults  which  they 
inflicted,  the  other  by  their  tardy,  weak  and  in- 
efficient measures  adopted  to  check  and  obtain  re- 
dress for  them.  The  measures  inaugurated  by 
the  Democratic  party  had  proved  so  inefficient, 
and  displayed  such  a  deficiency  of  talents  and  of 
knowledge  of  their  duties,  in  our  statesmen,  that 
the  reputation  of  our  country  sunk  so  low  in 
the  estimation  of  the  European  belligerents,  that 
they  did  not  seem  to  think  it  necessary  to  keep 

8 


86  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

up  the  ordinary  appearances  of  respect  for  us,  or 
for  the  laws  of  nations. 

How  much  they  were  mistaken,  in  supposing 
that  the  character  of  the  American  rulers  was 
that  of  the  American  people,  they  had  opportuni- 
ties of  discovering  thereafter.  Thus  far  all  their 
insults  and  indignities  had  been  met  by  no  other 
measures,  on  our  part,  but  such  as  weakened  our- 
selves and  rendered  us  less  capable  of  retaliation 
or  resistance  by  force.  It  was,  therefore,  a  very 
natural  supposition,  that  the  party  in  power  had 
adopted  the  policy  of  submission  to  insults  from 
stronger  powers,  and  consoled  themselves  by  heap- 
ing insults  on  those  over  whom  they  had  obtained 
the  victory;  on  those,  namely,  who  had  achieved 
our  independence,  including  Washington  and  all 
his  officers,  with  two  or  three  exceptions. 

Governed  by  such  suppositions,  the  owners  of 
the  Passenger  dispatched  her  for  Cadiz,  with  a 
a  view  of  keeping  her  in  the  Mediteranean  and 
North  of  Europe  trade,  as  long  as  the  measures 
of  our  government  should  deprive  our  ships  of 
the  power  of  leaving  our  own  harbors.  She  was 
insured  to  Cadiz,  from  whence  intelligence  was  to 
bo  sent  in  relation  to  her  future  course,  and  new 
insurance  was  to  bo  effected  in  conformity  there- 
with. 

The  Passenger  arrived  at  Cadiz  during  the 
siege  of  that  city,  by  the  French  troops,  under 
Marshal  Victor.  The  greatest  part  of  the 'Penin- 
sula had   been    subdued,  and  the  patriot  Junto, 


THE    WAR.  87 

with  all  the  government  officers  of  their  party,  had 
taken  refuge  in  the  only  city  that  was  able  to 
withstand  the  power  of  the  French  armies.  In  a 
letter  from  Capt.  Foote,  announcing  his  arrival, 
he  says,  "The  French  are  in  possession  of  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  bay,  and  are  constantly  throwing 
bombs  and  shells  into  the  town,  which,  passing 
over  our  own  heads,  have  a  very  fine  effect,  partic- 
ularly in  the  night,  when  the  arch  of  fire  which 
they  form  appears  to  great  advantage.  The  bat- 
teries on  shore,  and  the  bomb  ships  generally,  an- 
swer shot  for  shot.  We  do  not,  however,  appre- 
hend any  danger  to  the  shipping;  nor,  indeed, 
does  the  town  receive  much  damage,  as  only  about 
five  shots  out  of  a  hundred  take  effect,  and  as 
long  as  the  Spaniards  are  assisted  in  defending 
the  place  by  the  British,  there  is  no  fear  of  the 
French  being  able  to  get  possession  of  it."  Great 
distress  and  misery  was  suffered  in  the  city,  dur- 
ing the  siege,  increased  by  the  numerous  fugi- 
tives from  the  places  which  were  exposed  to  the 
cruelties  of  the  French  soldiery.  These  were  so 
great,  that  they  would  justify  the  supposition,  put 
by  Dr.  Franklin  in  the  mouth  of  an  inhabitant  of 
another  planet,  that  this  earth  was  inhabited,  not 
by  men,  but  devils.  But  the  distress  which  these 
fugitives  were  obliged  to  suffer,  in  their  state  of 
destitution,  at  Cadiz,  were  not  so  much  dreaded 
as  the  atrocities  committed  bv  the  French  armies. 
These  cruelties  resembled  those  inflicted  more 
than    two  centuries   previously  on  the  wretched 


88  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    EOOTE. 

inhabitants  of  Flanders,  by  the  Duke  of  Alva, 
and  the  other  commanders  of  the  Spanish  armies, 
sent  out  by  the  bloody  tyrant,  Philip  II,  to  bring 
heretics  to  acknowledge  a  belief  in  the  Christian 
doctrines  of  love,  forgiveness  and  universal  char- 
ity, as  taught  by  the  doctors  of  the  holy  inquisi- 
tion. The  accounts  of  the  cruelties  which  Capt* 
Foote  heard  at  this  time,  he  considered  as  much 
exaggerated,  not  thinking  it  possible  that  such 
outrages  could  be  committed  in  the  nineteenth 
century  by  the  inhabitants  of  any  civilized  na- 
tion; but  their  truth  was  confirmed  to  him  seve- 
ral years  afterwards,  by  some  French  officers, 
who  gave  details  of  deeds  which  they  saw,  and  in 
which  they  participated,  that,  like  the  crimes 
charged  by  Burke  on  Warren  Hastings,  might 
have  been  characterized  as  "cruelties  unheard  of, 
nad  crimes  without  a  name." 

The  state  of  affairs  at  Cadiz  checked  all  com- 
mercial operations,  and  intelligence  of  the  repeal 
of  the  British  "Orders  in  Council"  having  been 
received,  while  the  Passenger  wTas  in  that  port,  it 
was  judged  best  to  change  her  destination,  and 
return  with  her  to  New  York.  The  expecta- 
tion that  an  adjustment  of  all  matters  in  contro- 
versy between  the  two  nations,  would  follow  this 
repeal,  gave  reason  to  expect  a  renewal  of  Amer- 
ican commerce,  to  an  extent  that  would  give  our 
merchant  ships  better  business  there  than  they 
could  find  elsewhere.  The  measure  of  repeal  was 
undoubtedly  intended  to  be  introductory  to  the  ter- 


THE    WAR.  89 

ruination  of  the  commercial  hostilities  between 
England  and  the  United  States,  but  it  was  too 
late. 

The  change  of  destination  of  the  ship  being  de- 
termined, Capt.  Foote  wrote  to  his  brother,  giving 
the  necessary  advice  for  effecting  insurance :  the 
letters  however  were  never  received,  the  vessel  by 
which  they  were  sent  having  probably  been  cap- 
tured. 

The  Passenger  sailed  from  Cadiz,  and  had  a  fa- 
vorable time  until  near  the  banks  of  Newfound- 
land, when  she  met  with  the  British  frigate  Bel- 
videre,  commanded  by  Capt.  Byron,  whom  Capt. 
Foote  had  met  with  on  a  former  voyage,  and  who 
sent  for  him  to  come  on  board  the  frigate,  and  in- 
vited him  to  dine — treating  him  with  marked  po- 
liteness and  hospitality.  The  invitation  was  ac- 
cepted, and  they  passed  some  time  at  table  very 
pleasant!}',  with  good  wine,  agreeable  chit-chat, 
and  all  the  -'delicacies  of  the  season"  that  could 
be  obtained  at  sea. 

When  it  was  time  to  break  up  the  party,  Capt. 
Foote  being  about  to  return  to  his  ship,  expressed 
his  gratification  at  the  repeal  of  the  "  Orders  in 
Council,"  adding  that  all  matters  in  dispute  be- 
tween the  two  countries  would  doubtless  now  be 
settled,  and  friendly  feelings  restored.  "Why, 
yes,"  said  Capt.  Byron,  "your  country  has  taken 
measures  to  settle  them  all  by  a  declaration  of 
war."     Then  calling  to  a  subordinate  officer,  he 

said,  "  Go  and  set  fire  to  that  ship."     This  order 
8* 


90  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.  FOOTE. 

seemed  so  little  like  the  restoration  of  friendly 
feelings,  that  Foote  was  astounded  and  looked  in 
Byron's  faee  with  a  doubtful  feeling,  hoping  that 
it  might  be  a  joke,  or  some  unintelligible  mystifi- 
cation; but  being  assured  that  it  was  serious  earn- 
est, he  begged  permission  to  go  on  board  his  ship, 
and  bring  off  his  baggage,  which  request  was  very 
politely  granted.  On  going  aboard,  he  found  his 
cabin  looking,  as  he  said,  as  if  a  carpenter's  gang 
had  been  at  work  cutting  up  the  lockers,  and  tear- 
ing the  wood-work  apart  to  search  for  hidden 
treasures,  some  of  which  they  had  found,  and  dol- 
lars were  rolling  about  the  cabin  floor.  He  was 
able,  by  the  aid  of  the  officer  who  attended  him, 
to  save  about  two  hundred  of  them,  which  Capt. 
Byron  allowed  him  to  keep,  and  which  served  to  pay 
his  expenses,  and  make  some  necessary  provisions 
for  his  men,  while  a  prisoner  at  Halifax,  a  station 
which  he  soon  after  occupied. 

After  the  sailors  had  cut  as  many  trousers 
patterns  out  of  the  sails  as  they  wanted,  and 
taken  whatever  else  was  portable  and  desira- 
ble, they  set  fire  to  the  shij),  and  as  it  was  a 
calm  day,  she  drifted  towards  the  frigate,  threat- 
ening her  with  a  fate  like  her  own.  This,  how- 
ever, there  was  men  enough  on  board  the  fri- 
gate to  prevent.  Foote  stood  on  the  deck,  feel- 
ing a  grim  satisfaction  in  the  danger  as  it  in- 
creased, thinking  that  he  would  be  willing  to  risk 
his  life  in  his  boat,  for  the  gratification  of  seeing 
his   wrongs   avenged,    by  a    ten-fold   retaliation. 


THE     WAR.  91 

This,  however,  was  but  a  transient,  involuntary 
feeling,  for  ho  knew  that  Capt.  Byron's  instruc- 
tions  were    to    burn,    sink,  and    destroy  enemies 
ships  when  he  did  not  send  them  into  port  for 
condemnation,  and  that   he  was  willing  to  show 
any  kindness  consistent  with  such  duties.     Foote 
always  bore  testimony  to  the  polite  and  gentle- 
manly demeanor  of  the  English  naval  officers,  in 
their  intercourse  with  him,  with  the  exception  of 
the  captain  of  the  La  Hogue,  who  supposed  him 
to  be  a  Spaniard,  and  treated  him  with  the  haughty 
disdain  which  the  British  were  too  apt  to  bestow 
on    their    Peninsular  allies,  and  which  disgusted 
the  Spanish  people  so  deeply  that  they  seemed  to 
be  considered  by  them  as  enemies  rather  than  allies. 
Of  Commodore    Hardy,  who    commanded    the 
squadron   on  the  American  Station.  Capt.  Foote. 
as  well  as  every  other  prisoner  under  his  control, 
spoke  most  favorably.     His  kindness  and  forbear- 
ance towards  all  his  American  prisoners,  was  so 
universal,  that  he  became  quite  popular  with  his 
enemies  as  well  as  his  friends. 

Of  the  British  colonists,  with  whom  he  was 
compelled  to  associate,  he  did  not  speak,  by  any 
means,  as  favorably,  for  they  annoyed  him  exces- 
sively, by  their  braggadocio  insolence,  and  when, 
after  his  return  to  New  York,  he  heard  of  the  cap- 
ture of  the  Guerriere  by  Capt  Hull,  in  the  Con- 
stitution, he  said  that  he  would  have  been  willing 
to  have  remained  a  prisoner,  in  Halifax,  six 
months  longer,  for  the  gratification  of  seeing  how 


02  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

the  news  would  he  received  by  some  of  his  ac- 
quaintances there,  who  had  annoyed  him  by  their 
boasts  of  the  invincible  prowess  of  the  British 
navy,  and  wishing  that  one  of  their  sloops  of  war 
could  have  an  opportunity  of  displaying  it  by  be- 
ing matched  with  an  American  frigate.  The  cap- 
tain of  the  Guerriere  had,  a  short  time  previous  to 
her  capture,  endorsed  on  the  register  of  a-  small 
vessel  which  he  allowed  to  go  into  port,  a  chal- 
lenge to  any  one  of  the  "largest  American  frigates,1' 
to  meet  him  on  the  ocean.  This  register  was  pre- 
sented to  Capt.  Hull,  (it  was  shown  to  Capt.  Foote.) 
and  is  probably  still  preserved,  being  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  late  Eev.  Dr.  Jarvis,  his  brother-in-law. 
After  a  due  course  of  imprisonment,  Foote  was 
exchanged,  and  returned  to  New  York,  where  his 
brother  had  several  vessels  laid  up,  but  not  in 
quite  so  hopeless  and  discouraging  a  condition  as 
during  the  embargo,  the  enmity  of  Great  Britain, 
not  being  as  heavy  an  evil  as  that  of  our  own  gov- 
ernment towards  our  commerce.  Tho  brothers 
determined  not  to  lie  idle  during  the  war,  but  to 
risk  further  loss  instead  ;  for  the  decay,  cost  of 
ship  keeping,  wharfage,  etc.,  would  be  as  ruinous 
as  capture.  They,  therefore,  loaded  one  of  the 
vessels,  of  which  Capt.  Foote  took  the  command, 
and  by  avoiding  the  usual  routes,  which  his  accu- 
rate knowledge  enabled  him  to  do,  arrived  safely 
at  St.  Jago  de  Cuba,  where  his  cargo  was  sold,  the 
proceeds  invested  in  sugar  and  coffee,  and  shipped 
on  board  a  Spanish  vessel,  in  which  he  returned 


THE     WAR.  !)3 

to  New  York.  He  loaded  the  same  veasel  and  re- 
turned to  St.  Jago,  from  whence  she  Avas  dis- 
patched, with  another  cargo,  but  was  never  heard 
of  afterwards.  Foote  remained  at  St.  Jago,  in  or- 
der to  transact  the  business  of  several  vessels, 
consigned  to  him  there.  Of  two  fast  sailing  ves- 
sels sent  to  him  by  his  brother,  for  their  joint  ac- 
count, one  went  and  returned  safe,  the  other  was 
captured.  He  was  making  arrangements  with 
some  Spanish  merchants  for  extensive  commercial 
operations,  when  the  news  was  received  by  them 
that  the  British  Government  had  declared  the 
whole  coast  of  the  United  States,  from  Passama- 
quoddy  to  New  Orleans,  in  a  state  of  blockade. 
This  was,  manifestly,  only  a  paper  blockade,  as  it 
was  impossible  to  make  it  a  real  one,  with  all  the 
British  naval  force  that  could  be  sent  to  the  Amer- 
ican coast;  and  if  there  had  been  any  court  in  ex- 
istence competent  to  enforce  the  Laws  of  Nations, 
captures  of  neutrals,  under  such  a  decree,  would 
have  been  declared  piracy;  but  the  laws  of  na- 
tions, like  those  of  the  Christian  religion,  have 
only  served,  in  most  cases,  but  as  maxims,  conve- 
nient to  be  quoted,  when  they  assist  one  party  to 
oppose  the  proceedings  of  the  other. 

This  blockade,  however,  such  as  it  was,  defeated 
Foote's  plans,  as  the  Spanish  merchants  would 
not  risk  their  property  under  such  hazards  as  it 
caused.  He,  therefore,  determined  to  return  to 
New  York,  and  took  passage  in  an  apparently 
Spanish  brig,  bound  for  some  port  from  which  a 


94  MEMOIR    OF     SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

passage  might  be  easily  obtained  to  the  United 
States.  The  captain  at  first  declined  taking  him, 
as  the  danger  of  capture  and  condemnation,  in 
case  of  being  visited  by  a  British  cruiser,  would 
be  increased  by  having  an  American  passenger  on 
board.  Foote  assured  him  that  no  danger  should 
be  incurred  in  such  case,  by  his  presence,  for  he 
would  not  speak  a  word  of  English,  nor  would  he 
take  with  him  a  line  of  English  manuscript.  He, 
however,  warned  him,  that  he  had  neglected  many 
other  precautions,  of  more  importance,  which  was 
soon  proved  to  be  the  case,  for  the  brig  was  cap- 
tured by  the  La  Hogue  74,  to  which  ship  tho 
crew  and  passengers  were  transferred,  and  the 
brig  sent  to  Bermuda  for  condemnation. 

The  character  of  the  captain  of  the  La  Hogue 
was  in  strong  contrast  with  that  of  Byron,  and 
still  more  so  with  that  of  Hardy,  he  being  a 
drunkard,  and  coarse  and  brutal  in  his  manners. 
Foote  messed  with  the  other  Spanish  prisoners, 
and  described  their  rations  as  consisting  of  choc- 
olate for  breakfast  and  pea  sou])  for  dinner,  their 
qualities  being  such  that  "you  could  not  tell 
which  was  the  chocolate  and  which  the  pea  soup, 
except  by  the  time  of  day." 

As  the  officers  and  sailors  of  the  ship  did  not 
seem  to  think  it  necessarv  to  restrict  themselves 
to  the  use  of  gentlemanly  language  in  regard  to 
their  prisoners,  who  did  not  understand  English, 
they  were  in  the  habit  of  using  such  complimentary 
remarks,  seasoned  with  those  hard  words  which 


THE    WAR.  95 

are  customary,  and  considered  as  appropriate 
among  troopers  and  sailors,  as  would  have  tempted 
the  Spaniards,  if  they  had  understood  them,  to 
use  their  knives  for  some  other  purpose  than  that 
of  carving  their  meat.  Foote  was  strongly  tempt- 
ed to  resent  in  favor  of  his  Spanish  friends,  some 
of  the  remarks  on  their  nation,  which  required 
some  self-control  to  restrain,  but  which  his  agree- 
ment with  the  captain  of  the  brig  precluded  him 
from  appearing  to  understand.  This  state  of  du- 
rance, however,  did  not  last  long,  they  were  all 
sent  on  shore,  and  he  returned  to  New  York. 

On  his  arrival,  he  found  that  his  brother  had, 
during  his  absence,  in  connection  with  some  other 
merchants,  purchased  a  prize  vessel,  one  of  the 
Guernsey  cutters,  as  they  are  called ;  vessels  of 
such  peculiar  rig  that  they  are  known  at  sight  by 
all  the  British  sailors,  and  on  that  account  consid- 
ered more  safe  in  running  the  gauntlet  of  British 
cruisers,  than  a  vessel  of  any  other  class.  This 
vessel  was  sent  to  Charleston  for  a  car^o  of  cot- 
ton,  and  although  that  port  wras  really  blockaded, 
she  went  in  safely,  took  on  board  her  cargo,  sailed 
for  France,  and  arrived  at  Quimper,  where  she 
took  on  board  a  cargo  of  French  goods,  and  re- 
turned in  safety.  Being  equipped  with  letters  of 
marque  and  reprisal,  she  took  two  or  three  small 
British  vessels  from  the  West  Indies,  and  went 
in  with  them  to  Newbern,  North  Carolina,  where 
the  whole  adventure  was  sold.  Capt.  Foote  (his 
brother  being  ship's  husband.)  was  dispatched  to 


96  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

ISTewbern,  to  transact  the  business :  and  at  the 
present  day  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  the  possi- 
bility of  such  a  state  of  things,  in  relation  to 
the  intercourse  of  different  parts  of  our  country 
with  each  other,  at  that  time.  The  coasting  trade 
was  of  course  destroyed,  and  the  roads  were  in 
such  a  condition,  that  transportation  by  land  was 
so  enormously  expensive,  that  no  merchandize 
could  afford  the  charges  incurred  thereby.  All  the 
banks  south  of  JSTew  England  had  failed,  and  no 
bills  of  exchange  could  be  obtained  in  any  of  the 
southern  cities,  on  Philadelphia  or  ISTew  York. 
Under  these  circumstances,  it  was,  of  course,  a  dif- 
ficult matter,  after  all  the  sales  had  been  effected, 
to  transmit  the  proceeds.  The  best  plan  that  could 
be  adopted  for  this  purpose,  was"  to  obtain  bills  of 
the  banks  of  the  city  of  Washington,  for  which  a 
considerable  advance  was  paid,  and  it  was  sup- 
posed that  by  paying  another  large  advance,  New 
York  bank  bills  might  be  there  obtained. 

On  his  arrival  at  Washington,  Foote  found  that 
city  in  the  possession  of  the  British  army,  under 
Gen.  Eoss,  and  Admiral  Cochrane,  who  had  been 
amusing  themselves  by  making  bonfires  of  the 
Capitol  and  the  President's  house — a  display  of 
Vandalism  which  disgraced  the  British  with  all 
civilized  nations.  But  this,  disgraceful  as  it  was, 
was  not  so  really  infamous  as  the  employment  of 
their  savage  allies,  in  their  armies  in  Canada, 
and  saying  that  they  could  not  prevent  them  from 
torturing  and  murdering  their  prisoners. 


THE    WAR.  97 

All  our  government  officers,  and  with  them  all 
the  officers  of  the  banks,  had  fled — most  of  them 
to  Frederick,  in  Maryland — the  President  to  his 
seat  at  Montpelier,  Virginia,  and  others  of  less 
note,  to  different  places  in  the  interior.  The  Brit- 
ish army  had  returned  to  the  ships,  and  while 
waiting  for  the  return  of  the  fugitives,  Foote  took 
up  his  residence  at  Crawford's,  in  Georgetown,  at 
that  time  the  principal  hotel  in  the  district.  He 
had  remained  there  two  or  three  days,  when  he 
attracted  the  notice  of  a  gentleman — an  old  bach- 
elor— of  the  Virginia  F.  F.  V's,  a  brother  of  one 
of  the  original  proprietors  of  the  District — whose 
only  vocation  was  gossipry,  and  the  exercise  of  a 
philanthropic  watchfulness  over  the  conduct  and 
demeanor  of  its  inhabitants,  not  only  those  of  our 
public  servants,  living  there  in  official  dignity, 
but  also  those  in  the  humble  walks  of  private  life. 
His  object  was — like  that  of  Columbus — to  make 
important  discoveries,  for  the  benefit  of  his  coun- 
try and  mankind.  His  success  was  exemplified  in 
his  researches  respecting  the  affairs  of  Capt. 
Foote,  of  wdiich  the  following  is  "a  full  and  true 
account."  He  one  day  came  to  Crawford's,  and  in- 
quired of  him,  "Do  you  know  that  man  who  is 
walking  along  yonder?''  "I  do  not  recollect  his 
name,"'  said  Crawford,  "but  you  may  see  it  on 
the  register."  "Well,*'  said  the  other,  "I  know 
him  ;  he  is  Admiral  Cochrane,  and  he  has  come 
here  again  in  disguise,  with  other  spies,  to  see 
9 


98  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

what  further  mischief  they  can  do.'"  "Pooh,"' 
said  Crawford,"  I  have  seen  Admiral  Cochrane,  and 
know  that  that  man  is  not  him.  "What  has  put 
such  a  notion  into  your  head?"  ""Why,"  said  the 
other,  "he  always  looks  very  grave,  talks  to  no- 
body, spends  all  his  time,  when  in  the  house,  in 
writing,  and  when  out  of  it,  in  thinking,"  adding 
some  other  circumstances  of  equal  importance, 
and  verifying  his  suspicions  by  the  important  in- 
quiry, "If  he  is  not  Admiral  Cochrane,  who  can 
he  be?"  Crawford's  testimony,  however,  was  not 
satisfactory  to  so  profound  an  investigator  of  the 
historical  details  of  public  and  private  events, 
their  causes  and  consequences.  He,  evidently, 
thought  that  as  the  necessary  precautions  for 
guarding  the  city  had  been  neglected,  previous  to 
its  capture,  a  double  quantity  of  unnecessary  ones 
adopted  after  it,  would  be  the  proper  remedy  for 
the  misfortune. 

It  was  curious  to  see  and  hear  the  great  num- 
ber of  profound  tacticians,  whose  talents  were 
called  forth — into  conversation — on  this  occasion, 
and  the  variety  of  their  plans.  They  agreed, 
however,  in  but  one  point,  which  was,  that  if  the 
enemy  had  been  beaten  at  Bladensburgh,  instead 
of  our  army,  the  city  would  not  have  been  cap- 
tured— if  the  British  had  been  driven  to  their 
ships,  our  government  would  not  have  been  driven 
to  Frederick. 

It  was,    undoubtedly,    a   great   consolation   to 
these  men,  to  be  able  to  find  a  safety  valve  for 


THE     WAR.  99 

their  patriotic  feelings,  in  cursing  both  parties ; 
the  British  for  their  Vandalism,  and  our  defenders 
for  their  incapacity  and  cowardice.      The  gentle- 
man in  question,  however,  who  had  taken  up  the 
subject  of  spying  out  the  British  spies,  was  not 
satisfied,  like  the  others,  with  a  due  exercise  of 
the  ilcacoethes  loquendi"  but  was,  besides,  active 
and  efficient;  for  he  harangued  and  wrought  up- 
on so  many  minds  of  a  similar  calibre  to  his  own, 
that  it  was  determined  by  them,  in  council,  that 
something  must  be  done.     In  order  to  determine 
what  that  something   should  be,  they  appointed 
a  committee  of  two,  to  examine  the  room  of  the 
dreaded  spy,  in  his  absence,  and  make  the  neces- 
sary discoveries  to  authorize  their  taking  him  in- 
to custody.      This  committee — who  may  perhaps 
have  been  of  the  number  of  those  brave  men  who, 
with    "victory  or  death"   inscribed   in  letters   of 
gold  on  their  caps,  threw  down  their  guns  and 
fled  as  soon  as  they  were  near  enough  to  the  Brit- 
ish  soldiers  to  see  that   they  had  not   discretion 
enough  to  throw  down  their  guns  and  flee — went 
to  the  room  designated,  and  finding  the  door  ajar, 
peeped  in,  and  seeing  the  dreaded  enemy  at  his 
writing,  with  a  sword  and  pair  of  pistols  lying  be- 
fore him,  concluded  that  it  would  be  best  to  pro- 
ceed no  further,  in  a  matter  which  assumed  an  as- 
pect so  threatening.     They,  evidently,  thought  it 
best,  not  "to  fight  and  run  away,"  but  to  run  away, 
without  fighting — as  the  "victory  or  death,"  vol- 
unteers had  done — proving  that  to  be  the  surest 


100  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

method  of  being  enabled  to  live  another  day. 
Their  recommendation  to  proceed  no  further,  in 
so  dangerous  an  undertaking,  was  adopted,  and 
the  committee  discharged. 

A  German,  however,  who  occupied  a  room  ad- 
joining that  of  Foote,  was  not  so  easily  satisfied. 
He  thought  that  this  singular  stranger  must  be, 
if  not  a  spy,  a  Mephistopheles,  or  at  least,  one  of 
the  various  species  of  wizards  manufactured  in 
Germany,  and  sent  abroad  in  their  modern  litera- 
ture. He  might  not  only  set  the  city  on  fire,  but 
the  Potomac  also,  and  not  only  carry  off  the  offi- 
cers that  had  already  ran  away,  but  all  that  they 
had  left  behind.  What  could  be  done  in  the  mat- 
ter, was  the  puzzling  question  with  him ;  for  it 
was  too  dangerous  to  meddle  with  a  potent  en- 
chanter, and  still  more  dangerous  to  allow  him  to 
go  on  weaving  his  accursed  spells  and  enchant- 
ments for  some  future  awful  catastrophe.  How- 
ever, before  that  point  was  settled,  the  govern- 
ment returned  from  its  travels  into  the  interior, 
and  resumed  their  protective  functions. 

Having  fully  protected  that  portion  of  the  coun- 
try that  was  in  no  danger,  they  could  rely  on  their 
experience  in  that  department  of  their  duties  to 
claim  the  entire  confidence  of  the  citizens  of  the 
District.  The  bank  officials  returned  with  those 
of  the  government,  and  with  them  a  brother  of 
the  suspicious  character,  together  with  a  brother 
of  the  author  of  the  suspicions,  a  president  of  one 
of  the  banks  on  which  were  his  demands.      He 


THE     WAR.  101 

had  left  New  York  at  about  the  time  of  the  land- 
ing of  the  British  forces,  and  was  proceeding  to 
Washington  in  the  mail  stage,  and  when  near  the 
city,  was  met  by  a  messenger  who  gave  the  infor- 
mation that  the  battle  of  Bladensburgh  had  been 
fought,  and  that  the  enemy  had  marched  into  the 
city,  and  was  then  enjoying  the  amusement  of 
burning  the  public  buildings,  and  destroying  what- 
ever they  pleased,  and  that  the  government  was 
taking  a- jaunt  into  the  country.  As  all  the  pas- 
sengers had  some  business  to  transact  with  the  fu- 
gitives, it  was  determined  to  be  necessary  to  tread 
in  the  footsteps  of  the  guardians  of  their  country's 
honor  and  glory — if  they  could  be  found — and 
they  therefore  directed  their  course  to  Frederick. 
At  this  place,  all  the  highest  dignitaries  of  the 
country,  except  the  President,  were  assembled,  and 
seemed  to  be  in  a  situation  very  undignified,  and 
looking  as  if  Oliver  Cromwell's  speech  to  the  Jong 
parliament  had  been  addressed  to  them,  and  they 
felt  they  had  deserved  it,  viz  :  "  Get  ye  gone,  ye 
rascals,  and  give  place  to  honest  men."  Their  de- 
liberations, during  their  visit  to  Frederick,  did  not 
appear  to  be  more  effective  than  their  warlike  ope- 
rations for  the  defense  of  the  capitol,  and  after  a 
few  days  delay,  intelligence  being  received,  that 
the  enemy  had  evacuated  the  city,  they  all  re- 
turned, except  Gen.  Armstrong,  the  Secretary  of 
War,  wThose  conduct  had  been  so  outrageously  in- 
consistent with  his  duties,  that  accusations  of 
treachery,  cow-ardiee  and  treason,  were  in  the 
*6 


102  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

mouths  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  District,  and 
it  would  have  been  unsafe  for  him  to  have  been 
seen  there,  where  stories  of  his  misconduct  were 
being  continually  repeated  and  generally  believed. 
It  is  probable,  however,  that  many  of  them  were 
inventions,  yet  some  circumstances  of  his  life — 
such  as  the  Newburgh  letters  at  the  close  of  the 
revolutionary  war,  and  his  treatment  of  the  claims 
of  his  countrymen  for  French  spoliations,  while 
he  was  minister  to  France,  were  such  as  to  seem 
to  justify  the  suspicion,  that  he  was  capable  of 
any  act  of  treachery  to  which  he  might  be  tenrpt- 
ed.  He  was  another  instance  of  the  folly  of  put- 
ting into  office  men  who  do  not  possess  the  quali- 
fications of  ability  and  integrity.  Of  the  former, 
he  was  possessed,  but  without  the  latter,  was  only 
thereby  more  disqualified  for  office. 

The  most  valuable  qualifications  for  a  states- 
man and  a  man  of  business,  after  those  above 
named,  are,  to  know,  in  any  emergency,  what  is 
best  to  be  done,  and  to  possess  the  necessary  ener- 
gy and  determination  for  its  accomplishment. 
These  qualifications  were  instructively  exempli- 
fied by  Washington  as  a  statesman,  and  the  sub- 
ject of  this  memoir  as  a  man  of  business. 

Thus  far  the  progress  of  the  war  had  been 
strictly  in  accordance  with  such  expectations  as 
those  of  its  opponents,  and  as  would  naturally  be 
experienced  by  any  sagacious  mind,  looking  at 
the  time  and  manner  of  its  commencement,  the 
characters  of  the   men   who   governed,   and   the 


THE     WAR.  103 

agents  to  whom  they  committed  its  management. 
The  redemption  of  our  country  from  its  disgraces 
on  land,  where  all  the  glory  of  the  war  had  been 
anticipated  by  its  partizans,  had  been  begun  on 
the  ocean,  all  power  on  which  they  had  proposed 
to  give  up  without  a  struggle. 

The  brave  men  who  began  and  continued  to 
raise  up  our  country's  fame  from  the  deep  degra- 
dation into  which  it  had  been  sunk  by  incompe- 
tent statesmen,  had  by  them  been  treated  so  con- 
temptuously, merely  because  they  were  Federal- 
ists, that  when  they  were  permitted  to  go  forth 
upon  the  ocean,  they  were  smarting  with  the 
wounds  on  their  reputation,  and  were  prepared  to 
sacrifice  their  lives,  if  necessary,  but  never  to  add 
a  new  sacrifice  of  their  country's  honor. 

The  time  for  the  restoration  of  our  reputation 
on  land  had  not  vet  arrived.  The  Harrisons, 
Jacksons,  Scotts,  and  other  brave  and  skillful  gen- 
erals, had  not  yet  obtained  the  opportunity  of  re- 
deeming our  fame  on  land. 

After  making  the  best  arrangement  of  their  bus- 
iness affairs  in  their  power,  the  brothers  returned 
to  New  York,  and  in  passing  through  Bladens- 
burgh,  stopped  long  enough  to  obtain  some  idea 
of  the  price  paid  for  the  glories  of  war.  Although 
the  battle  at  that  place  had  been  a  mere  minia- 
ture representation  of  a  battle,  in  comparison 
with  those  of  that  period  in  Europe,  through 
which  the  minds  of  men  had  been  so  long  famil- 
iarized  to  the  slaughter  of  tens  of  thousands  on 


104  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

one  field,  yet  a  sight  of  its  effects  on  so  small  a 
scale  even,  was  sufficient  to  make  any  one  with 
human  feelings, 

"Hang  his  head  for  shame,  and  blush  to  think  himself  a  man." 

The  wounded  were  lying  in  a  large  barrack, 
"on  their  pallets  of  straw, "'  where  with  groans 
and  cries  of  distress,  they  were  begging  the  sur- 
geons for  that  relief  from  pain  which  it  was  not 
in  their  power  to  give.  The  smell  from  the  bat- 
tle field  gave  evidence  that  the  dead  had  been 
carelessly  buried,  and  the  vultures  and  buzzards 
scented  the  field  from  afar,  and  were  hovering 
around.  Amputations  were  still  called  for,  which, 
in  the  situation  of  the  patients  in  the  hot  sum- 
mer weather,  seemed  often  to  give  only  the  relief 
of  death,  which  in  most  cases  appeared  to  be  a 
welcome  messenger. 

They  left  this  scene  with  feelings  of  deep  distress, 
from  the  sight  of  suffering  which  they  could  not 
relieve — with  feelings  of  shame  and  mortification 
for  the  disgrace  of  their  country,  and  of  resent- 
ment towards  an  enemy  capable  of  inflicting  wan- 
ton injuries  on  peaceful  citizens,  from  whose  en- 
mity they  had  nothing  to  fear,  and  from  whose 
distresses  they  had  nothing  to  hope.  The  wan- 
ton outrages  committed  by  an  army  sent  over 
from  a  Christian  nation,  professing  to  be  governed 
by  the  laws  of  civilized  warfare,  against  a  Chris- 
tian and  kindred  nation,  were  a  mark  of  back- 
ward progress  towards  the  ages  of  barbarism,  which 


THE    WAR.  105 

it  is  to  be  hoped,  have  been  repented  of,  and  will 
never  be  repeated  by  the  armies  of  Great  Britain. 
For  France,  after  decreeing  that  Death  is  an 
eternal  sleep,  and  there  is  no  God  but  nature,  it 
was  in  character  to  overrun  Europe  with  her  ar- 
mies, and  commit  the  atrocities  and  horrors  to 
which  such  principles  lead- — to  rob  and  murder 
innocent  victims,  and  spread  desolation  over  the 
most  fertile  fields  of  the  earth — for  such  a  people 
such  a  course  might  be  consistent  with  the  system 
of  ethics  adopted  by  them  when  they  discarded 
the  doctrines  of  Christianity.  It  was  perfectly 
in  character  for  that  nation,  after  having  abolished 
all  worship  but  that  of  glory,  to  deify  Napoleon, 
who  bestowed  so  much  of  it  upon  them — (for  men, 
when  they  abandon  the  worship  of  God  will  al- 
ways make  to  themselves  idols,  first  of  flesh  and 
blood,  and  afterwards  of  baser  materials.)  But 
for  Great  Britain — a  nation  containing  a  large 
proportion  of  Christian  inhabitants,  and  profes- 
sing to  be  governed  by  Christain  principles — for 
Great  Britain,  which  had  so  long  held  up  the  anti- 
Christian  example  of  France  as  a  warning  to  her 
people — for  this  nation  to  follow  that  example,  in 
sending  armies  abroad,  to  commit  ravages,  which 
all  Christian  nations  denounce — (and  imitate  when 
they  consider  it  good  policy) — and  set  an  exam- 
ple in  the  deification  of  Nelson,  of  idolatry  as 
gross  as  that  imitated  by  her  enemy,  in  the  case 
of  Napoleon — were  inconsistencies  too  glaring  to 
be  justified  by  any  nation  professing  Christianity. 


106  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

And  yet  they  were,  although  condemned  in 
words,  justified  in  acts,  by  the  United  States,  in 
the  invasion  of  Mexico,  under  a  pretext  so  flimsy 
that  it  would  have  been  more  creditable  to  have 
said  :  li  We  want  a  portion  of  your  territory,  and 
we  are  the  strongest  and  will  take  it."  And  it 
would  have  been  an  exhibition  of  frankness — such 
as  civilized  nations  never  exhibit — to  have  added: 
"We  want  opportunities  for  our  political  aspir- 
ants to  distinguish  themselves  as  warriors,  and 
our  nearest  neighbor  is  weak  enough  to  afford  us 
such  opportunity,  without  much  risk,  which  we 
must  improve/' 

Our  armies,  however,  never  committed  any 
such  acts  of  Yandalism  as  the  burning  of  public 
buildings,  dedicated  solely  to  civil  uses,  nor  com- 
mitted any  acts  of  wanton  cruelty,  and  we  are 
confident  that  none  of  the  officers  uDder  Taylor, 
Harrison,  Scott,  or  any  other  of  our  Generals,  were 
ever  guilty  of  that  extreme  of  meanness  exhibited 
by  Ross  or  his  subordinates,  who  dismantled  the 
office  of  the  National  Intelligencer,  and  threw  its 
types  into  the  gutter.*  As  this  journal  from  the 
period  of  its  establishment  to  that  time,  (and 
down  to  the  present,)  had  been  remarkable  for  the 
courtesy  and  gentlemanly  demeanor  of  its  conduc- 
tors, both  editorially  and  personally,  towards  its 
opponents,  (qualities  very  rare  in  public  journals 


*The  writer  picked  up  some  of  these  types  and  preserved  them  for  some 
time  as  specimens  of  modern  modes  of  warfare. 


THE    WAR.  107 

at  that  period,)  if  singled  out  by  the  enemy,  it 
should  have  been  for  the  purpose  of  showing  res- 
pect for  those  qualities,  instead  of  contempt  and 
disregard  for  them. 

That  doctrine  of  devils,  which  teaches  that  a 
defensive  war  may  be  made  by  sending  armies  to 
overrun  and  conquer  a  neighboring  territory,  to 
devastate  the  towns  and  fields  of  individuals  en- 
gaged in  peaceful  pursuits — in  such  pursuits  as 
are  necessary  to  the  existence  of  the  very  armies 
themselves — has  not  yet  been  superceded  by  Chris- 
tian ethics. 

Let  us  hope,  however,  that  the  time  ma}'  come, 
when  Christianity  shall  be  a  governing  principle 
for  nations  and  individuals,  instead  of  a  mere 
theme  of  discussion  for  polemics,  and  a  political 
stalking-horse  for  governments. 


108  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 


CHAPTEE    VII 

PEACE. 


"  Hail  sacred  peace.'' — Dwigiit. 

"  Wine  is  as  good  as  life  to  a  man  if  it  be  drank  moderately."  * 

Son  of  Sibach. 

"  Como  el  gran,  Sancho  Panzatomo  possession  dc  su  insula." 

Don  Quixotte. 


On  the  return  of  j)eace  Foote  was  in  North 
Carolina,  where  he  had  in  former  visits,  formed 
some  friendships,  which  he  cherished  with  char- 
acteristic warmth,  and  which  were  cordially  re- 
ciprocated by  the  genial,  kind-hearted  friends  re- 
siding there.  One  of  these  friends,  Wilson  Saw- 
yer, was  an  eminent  merchant,  in  Elizabeth  City, 
whose. commercial  operations  had  been  successful, 
and  therefore  very  naturally  excited  a  willingness 
to  extend  them.  With  this  gentleman  his  friendly 
relations  were  very  intimate,  and  each  was  alike 
enterprising  and  sagaciously  observant  of  every 
circumstance  in  which  their  efforts  for  public  or 
private  advantage  could  be  exerted  with  a  pros- 
pect of  beneficial  results. 

*And  as  bad  as  death  to  him  if  it  be  drank  immoderately. 


peace.  Km 

The  deficiency  of  enterprise  and  industry  in 
the  natives  of  that  region,  was  so  apparent  as  to 
be  one  of  the  first  subjects  of  remark,  not  only  in 
relation  to  commercial,  but  to  agricultural  opera- 
tions. To  aid  in  remedying  this  defect,  the  two 
friends  proposed  to  become  benefactors  of  that 
portion  of  their  country,  in  both  of  these  depart- 
ments. 

The  commerce  of  all  that  part  of  North  Caro- 
lina, bounding  on  the  Pamlico  and  Albermarle 
sounds,  (the  latter  especially,)  and  the  rivers 
which  flow  into  them,  has  been  rendered  difficult 
and  dangerous,  by  the  closing  of  the  inlet  through 
which  the  ships  of  Sir  Water  Raleigh  entered 
without  any  obstruction.  This  inlet  was  north  of 
Roanoke  island,  opening  directly  into  Albermarle 
sound.  Its  obliteration  by  the  loose,  shifting- 
sands  which  constitute  the  sea-coast  for  a  great 
distance  towards  the  south,  compels  all  vessels 
bound  to  the  north-eastern  ports  of  North  Caro- 
lina to  go  round  the  dangerous  Cape  Hatteras. 
and  enter  the  sounds  by  way  of  Ocracock  inlet, 
a  distance  of  some  hundreds  of  miles  out  of  their 
way  in  going  and  returning;  requiring  northerly 
winds  to  reach  the  inlet  and  southerly  winds  as 
soon  as  they  pass  it;  not  only  causing  delays  and 
hazards,  but  much  expense  of  lighterage,  all  of 
which  might  be  avoided  if  Eoanoke  inlet  could 
be  again  opened. 

The  two  friends  projected  the  improvement  of 

this  extensive  coast  navigation,  bv  a  restoration 
10 


110  MEMOIR    OF     SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

of  the  original  channel  through  which  .Raleigh's 
ships  entered,  and  by  diking  the  other  small  in- 
lets, to  keep  this  one  open  continually.  This 
undertaking  being  successfully  accomplished,  it 
was  to  be  a  matter  of  course,  that  a  commercial 
city  would  be  established  near  the  northern  point 
of  Eoanoke  Island.  The  idea  probably  was  not 
original  with  them,  but  they  supposed  the  plan  to 
be  perfectly  feasible,  and  its  advantages  so  mani- 
fest, and  the  results  capable  of  being  made  so  pro- 
fitable, that  it  ought  to  attract  the  capital  and 
enterprizc  necessary  to  its  complete  success. 

With  this  improvement  these  sounds  would  be 
(in  some  measure)  to  North  Carolina  what  the 
Chesapeake  is  to  Virginia,  and  it  ought  to  have 
been  carried  into  effect  at  a  much  earlier  period. 
The  enterprize  of  that  region,  however, — small  in 
amount  at  any  time — was  at  that  period  so  strong- 
ly attracted  towards  making  new  settlements  in 
Tennessee  and  Alabama,  then  newly  opened  to 
emigrants,  that  not  enough  of  it  remained  behind 
to  carry  into  effect  any  undertaking  of  import- 
ance. Much  talk,  and  some  newspaper  para- 
graphs were  expended  on  the  subject,  but  very 
little  or  nothing  else. 

The  agricultural  plan  for  the  improvement  of 
the  country,  was  the  extension  over  it  of  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  Eoanoke  Island  vines,  from  which 
the  natives  were  in  the  habit  of  making  a  wine, 
which  they  spoiled,  by  mixing  with  it  whisky  or 
peach-brandy,   to  check  the  fermentation  which 


PEACE.  Ill 

the  heat  of  the  climate  rendered  so  rapid,  that  the 
real  merits  of  the  wine  could  not  be  developed. 
In  that  sandy  region,  which  can  not  be  cultivated 
to  any  profit  with  the  usual  products  of  agricul- 
ture, vines  grow  luxuriantly;  and  in  that  State 
there  is  found  a  greater  variety  of  wild  grapes, 
and  those  of  better  quality,  than  in  any  of  the 
other  Atlantic  States. 

The  Eoanoke  vines  are  a  strong  exemplification 
of  the  influence  of  soil  and  site,  upon  their  vinous 
products;  such  as  is  remarked  and  unexplained 
in  the  wine  making  districts  of  Europe.  The  in- 
habitants of  the  low  country  say  that  the  trans  - 
planting  of  their  vines  to  a  distance  even  of  fifty 
miles  into  the  interior,  changes  their  character 
entirely. 

If  cellars  cool  enough  to  cause  the  fermentation 
of  the  must  to  go  on  as  gradually  as  is  requisite 
for  developing  and  preserving  the  true  character 
of  the  wine,  could  be  constructed,  the  product, 
doubtless,  would  be  greatly  improved.  Foote  had 
made  many  observations  in  the  wine  countries 
he  had  visited,  respecting  the  methods  of  making, 
preserving  and  improving  their  wines,  and  sup- 
posed that  some  of  the  methods  which  he  had  ob- 
served might  be  applied  to  wine  making  in  North 
Carolina,  and  that  the  introduction  into  that  part 
of  the  State  of  this  new  branch  of  industry,  would 
be  of  inestimable  advantage  there,  and  might  en- 
courage some  of  the  listless  idlers,  which  abound 
in  those  regions,  to  attempt  the  employment  of 


112  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.  FOOTE. 

their  time  in  more  profitable  pursuits  than  drink- 
ing whisky  as  a  prophylactic  to  fever  and  ague, 
or  lounging  about,  and  "for  want  of  thought" 
weakening  their  mental  and  bodily  faculties  to- 
gether. 

Sawyer  and  Foote  made  a  purchase,  for  joint 
account,  of  a  piece  of  ground  on  Roanoke  Island, 
with  a  view  of  making  the  experiments  projected 
for  an  improved  system  of  cultivation  of  the  vine. 
It  was  planted  with  vines;  and  the  European 
methods  of  cultivation  commenced.  But  for  the 
success  of  wine  growing  in  the  United  States  it  was 
necessary  that  the  patient  perseverance  and  ex- 
haustless  capital  of  a  Longworth  should  be  devoted 
to  it — that  a  Buchanan  should  collect  and  publish 
maxims  for  cultivation  of  the  vines,  and  making 
the  wine — that  a  Rehfuss,  a  Werk,  a  Mosher,  a 
Yeatman,  a  Mottier,  a  Bogen,  and  others,  should, 
some  of  them,  bring  to  the  aid  of  cultivators  Euro- 
pean experience,  and  others,  the  intelligent  Yankee 
style  of  observation  necessary  to  adapt  it  to  our 
climate.  This  combination  of  advantages  which 
has  given  to  Cincinnati  a  fame  for  her  wines, 
which  promises  to  be  as  extensive  as  that  which 
she  has  obtained  for  her  pork,  was  wanting  to 
North  Carolina,  whose  sterile  sands  contrast  as 
strongly  with  our  fertile  Miami  vallies,  as  her  lazy 
"poor  white  men*'  with  the  industrious,  unweary- 
ing, cultivators  of  these  vallies ;  and  repulse  im- 
migrants as  decidedly  as  our  rich  free  soils  attract 
them.     Her  best  and  most  profitable  staple  pro- 


PEACE.  11 


Q 


ducts  might  have  been  made — and  nature  displayed 
it  by  unerring  tokens — from  the  cultivation  of  her 
vines,  for  in  the  low  country,  along  the  coasts  of 
her  sounds  and  seas,  they  will  grow  luxuriantly 
on  the  sandy  soils  which  will  nourish  scarcely  any 
thing  else. 

A  general  belief  has  always  prevailed  in  that 
region,  that  their  native  vines  will  not  submit  to 
the  restraints  of  cultivation,  but  that  like  the 
human  natives,  they  must  be  allowed  to  take  their 
own  course  unfetterred — not  merely  by  too  much, 
but — by  any  regulation. 

It  was  supposed,  however,  that  practical  experi- 
ments would  afford  such  a  manifest  refutation  of 
this  doctrine,  that  it  would  soon  be  ranked  among 
the  exploded  superstitions  of  the  past  ages.  The 
parties  to  this  attempt,  however,  could  not  afford 
to  devote  the  time,  labor,  and  capital  necessary  to 
test  the  experiment,  and  it  remains  still  a  problem 
to  be  solved  by  some  future  cultivator.  The  ap- 
pearance of  the  experimental  vineyard,  when  seen 
by  the  writer  several  years  afterwards,  seemed  to 
favor  the  original  ideas  of  the  natives,  and  to  de- 
monstrate that  European  modes  of  cultivation  are 
not  adapted  to  American  climates. 

These  projects  and  experiments,  however,  could 
not  be  continued,  for  the  inducements  to  improve 
the  advantages  opened  to  commercial  pursuits  by 
the  return  of  peace,  could  not  be  resisted  by  the 
two  friends,  and  they,  therefore,  turned  their  at- 
tention to  their  customary  pursuits. 
10* 


114  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

They  found  in  Norfolk  a  British  prize  brig  of 
large  tonnage  for  sale  at  a  low  price,  and  pur- 
chased her  for  their  joint  account,  intending  to 
load  her  in  Charleston  with  cotton  for  Europe. 
Foote  named  her  the  Sancho,  in  compliment  to  one 
of  his  old  favorites,  Sancho  Panza,  she  being  like 
him,  capable  of  stowing  in  her  capacious  bowels 
uncommonly  large  quantities  of  good  things.  This 
quality,  however,  as  frequently  happens  with  hu- 
man devourers  of  great  quantities  of  nourishment 
— was  the  cause  of  her  ruin,  for  it  rendered  her 
like  them,  dull  and  heavy,  not  obeying  her  rudder 
with  sufficient  promptitude;  in  consequence  of 
which,  being  attacked  by  a  gale  of  wind  in  going- 
out  of  the  Chesapeake,  she  was  driven  on  Bodies' 
Island,  and  lost.  As  in  a  former  case,  the  letter 
ordering  her  insurance  miscarried ;  in  this  case 
from  Post  office  negligence;  and  was  restored  to 
its  proper  route  only  in  time  to  arrive  simultane- 
ously with  the  accounts  of  the  vessel's  loss,  conse- 
quently there  was  no  trouble  with  the  under- 
writers on  the  subject.  A  letter  from  Foote  gives 
the  following  account  of  his  disaster  : 

"You  will  be  obliged  to  procure  a  map  of  North 
Carolina  in  order  to  discover  what  part  of  the 
world  I  am  writing  from,  and  even  then,  unless 
you  get  one  upon  a  very  largo  scale,  I  doubt 
whether  you  will  be  able  to  find  me  out.* 


*  Professor  Bacha,  in  his  "  Coast  Survey,"  has  brought  this  island  into 
more  extensive  notice  than  it  had  ever  attained  before. 


PEACE.  115 

"It  is  a  little  uninhabited  Island  or  sand  bank, 
between  Cape  Hatteras  and  Cape  Henry,  where  I 
was  driven  ashore  in  the  night,  in  a  gale  of  wind. 
Fortunately  no  lives  were  lost,  and  we  have  been 
able  to  save  a  part  of  the  cargo,  sails,  rigging,  etc. 
With  our  sails  we  have  erected  tents  upon  the 
beach,  where  Ave  are  now  living  in  true  Eobinson 
Crusoe  style — goat  skin  dresses  excepted.  Having 
fallen  in  with  a  company  of  fishermen,  who  are 
encamped  on  a  neighboring  is-land.  catching  her- 
rings, I  have  dispatched  several  of  them  in  various 
directions,  to  give  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighbor- 
ing districts  intelligence  of  our  being  here,  and  of 
our  wish  to  remove  to  a  more  northern  climate,  to 
spend  the  approaching  summer — at  the  same  time 
inviting  them  to  attend  a  public  sale  of  all  our 
goods,  wares  and  merchandize,  on  the  14th  inst. 

"  We  were  fortunate  enough  to  save  plenty  of 
provisions,  so  that  we  have  no  fear  of  starving, 
but  having  lost  all  our  water,  we  have  been  a  little 
incommoded  on  that  account,  having  nothing  to 
drink  but  the  brackish  stuff  we  can  procure  by  dig- 
ging holes  in  the  sand." 

This  was  the  only  instance  of  shipwreck  suffer- 
ed by  Capt.  Foote  during  his  nautical  career,  and 
it  may  be,  perhaps,  attributed  in  part,  to  his  opin- 
ion of  the  superior  strength  of  construction  in 
British  built  ships  in  comparison  with  those  of 
our  own  country,  and  to  his  overlooking  the  great 
advantages  possessed  by  the  latter  in  tast  sailing, 
and  easier  control.     He  spoke  in  a  letter  to  his 


116  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

mother  of  his  vessel's  being  "British  built,"  as 
reasons  for  diminishing  her  apprehensions  for  his 
safety.  Her  shipwreck,  however,  taught  him  a 
lesson  which  he  did  not  forget,  and  when  at  a  sub- 
sequent period  he  built  the  Fabius.  he  had  learned 
to  combine  strength  of  construction  with  swift 
sailing,  so  that  that  ship  was  the  most  perfect  in 
all  her  qualities  that  had  been  built  up  to  that 
period. 

After  his  shipwreck  he  returned  to  New  York, 
and  resumed  the  trade  with  Havana  and  Cadiz, 
varying  occasionally  his  voyages  to  other  Euro- 
pean and  West  Indian  ports.  The  trade  with 
England  having  been  so  long  interrupted  during 
war,  was  revived  with  so  much  spirit  and  energy 
after  the  peace,  that  as  usually  happens  in  such 
cases,  it  was  overdone,  as  was  all  the  regular  busi- 
ness with  most  of  the  European  and  all  the  West 
India  ports.  One  of  the  commercial  crises  which 
have  seemed  to  be  periodical  in  the  United  States, 
took  place  in  consequence  of  overtrading,  and  pro- 
duced extraordinary  distress  and  frequent  failures 
among  merchants,  which  being  caused  by  no  great 
public  events,  such  as  the  embargo  and  war,  seem- 
ed to  baffle  conjecture  as  to  its  causes.  There, 
probably,  was  but  one — overtrading — which  no 
warning:  is  ever  sufficient  to  restrain.  One  or  two 
years  of  prosperous  commerce  seems  to  cause  the 
most  prudent  and  cautious  merchant  to  forget  the 
lessons  of  caution  which  he  regularly  receives,  and 
to  tempt  him  to  extend  his  operations  beyond  the 


PEACE.  117 

limit  of  prudence,  and  thereby  suffer  the  loss  of 
all  the  accumulations  of  his  industry. 

After  terminating  the  business  which  the  unfor- 
tunate Sancho  brought  to  a  close,  Capt.  Foote  re- 
newed his  trade  with  Spain  and  her  colonies.  In 
the  course  of  it,  the  following  illustration  of  his 
character  and  habits  occurred,  which  it  may  be 
useful  and  instructive  to  contemplate.  That  por- 
tion of  the  fourth  commandment  which  required 
him  to  honor  his  mother  was  so  deeply  rooted  in 
his  feelings,  that  he  thought  he  honored  her — a 
widow — by  a  readiness  to  aid  and  assist  any  widow 
in  need  of  aid  and  assistance  whenever  it  was  in 
his  power. 

He  became  acquainted  with  an  English  lady,  of 
superior  education,  the  daughter  of  a  man  holding 
the  office  of  Governor  of  that  princely  commercial 
corporation,  "  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company,"  in 
London  :  a  gentleman  whose  conduct  to  his  daugh- 
ter might  suggest  the  idea  that  the  cold,  sterile, 
inhospitable  regions  under  his  government,  had 
lent  him  some  of  their  characteristics. 

She  had,  at  his  dictation,  married  a  man  for 
whom  she  had  no  particular  preference,  though  as 
her  affections  were  not  engaged  to  any  other  man, 
her  obedience  did  not  cost  her  any  extraordinary 
effort.  To  the  same  dictation,  however,  she  re- 
fused to  yield  obedience  when  it  required  her  to 
abandon  her  husband  after  he  had  wasted  his 
property,  and  debased  his  character,  by  dissipa- 
tion and  extravagance :  she  did  not  recognize  any 


118  MEMOIR  OF  SAMUEL    E.    EOOTE. 

principle  that  would  justify  her  separation  from 
the  man  whom  she  had  (although  thoughtlessly) 
bound  herself  to  "love,  honor  and  obey  as  long  as 
they  both  should  live.'*  On  the  contrary,  like  a 
true  woman,  she  devoted  herself  more  deeply  and 
exclusively  to  him  in  proportion  to  his  need  of  her 
affection  and  assistance — in  proportion  to  the  de- 
pendence on  her  alone,  to  which  he  was  reduced 
by  the  abandonment  of  all  his  friends  and  asso- 
ciates. 

They  emigrated  to  America,  and  she  established, 
at  Boston,  a  female  seminary  of  the  highest  class, 
and  was  enabled,  bv  its  success,  to  maintain  her 
family,  and  educate  her  children, — two  daughters 
and  one  son.  After  a  few  years  her  husband  died, 
and  then  her  father  allowed  her  an  annuity  sum- 
dent  for  her  personal  wants,  and  her  two  daugh- 
ters being  married,  and  residing  in  New  York, 
she  removed  to  that  city,  where  she  became  ac- 
quainted with  Capt.  Foote.  Her  son,  the  young- 
est of  her  children,  resolved  that  his  mother 
should  not  restrict  her  comforts  by  taking  from 
her  limited  income  the  amount  that  would  be  ne- 
cessary to  qualify  him  for  a  profession.  lie  deter- 
mined at  once  to  become  independent,  and  rely 
solely  on  his  own  exertions  for  his  future  support 
and  advancement  in  life.  In  pursuance  of  this  de- 
termination he  shipped  as  a  foremast  hand  on  board 
a  merchant  vessel,  for  the  purpose  of  qualifying 
himself  for  the  command  of  a  ship  in  that  service. 
He  had  made  several  voyages  in  that  capacity, 


PEACE.  119 

when  his  mother  became  acquainted  with  Capt. 
Foote,  and  thinking  her  son  had  served  long  enough 
in  the  school  he  had  entered,  to  qualify  him  to  be- 
gin to  rise  in  his  profession,  begged  him  to  take 
Eobert  (the  son)  on  board  his  ship,  in  the  capacity 
of  second  mate.  Upon  examining  the  young  man, 
the  captain  liked  him  so  well  that  he  made  him 
his  chief  mate ;  probably  perceiving  in  him  some 
of  his  own  characteristic  traits.  His  mother  was 
delighted  to  find  her  son  advanced  two  grades, 
when  her  highest  hopes  had  been  for  a  rise  oTone 
from  the  forecastle,  and  she  considered  hi  in  now 
as  certain  to  attain  the  highest  grade  in  his  pro- 
fession very  soon. 

The  voyage,  at  that  time  in  prospect,  was  to  in- 
clude Cadiz  and  Havana,  but  it  had  not  been 
determined  whether  to  load  first  for  the  latter 
port,  and  take  a  cargo  of  sugar  from  thence  to 
Cadiz,  or  go  first  to  Cadiz,  and  take  a  cargo  of 
Spanish  goods  to  Havana,  and  return  with  a  car- 
go of  sugar  and  coffee  to  ]STew  York.  It  was,  how- 
ever, finally  settled  to  take  the  latter  course,  but 
before  the  ship  was  ready  for  sea,  intelligence  was 
received  that  the  yellow  fever  was  raging  at  Cadiz 
with  unprecedented  virulence.  A  son  of  an  emi- 
nent merchant  in  New  York,  in  the  counting  house 
of  F.  X.  Harmony,  to  whom  the  ship  was  con- 
signed, had  died  suddenly  of  this  disease ;  and 
among  foreigners  generally,  it  was  peculiarly 
Mai.  Upon  the  receipt  of  this  intelligence  in 
New  York,  great  consternation  was  excited  among 


120  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

those  who  had  friends  in,  or  on  the  way  to,  that 
doomed  city,  as  it  was  then  considered,  and  Mrs. 
Field,  mother  of  the  newly  appointed  mate,  had 
her  joy  for  his  appointment  changed  into  horrible 
apprehensions,  that  he-  was  on  a  forlorn  hope 
bound  to  almost  certain  death.  She  came  to 
Capt.  Foote,  in  a  state  of  uncontrollable  distress, 
begging  him  to  alter  the  destination  of  the  ship, 
as  well  on  his  own  account  as  that  of  those  under 
his  command,  and  to  go  first  to  Havana,  where 
the  ship  would  probably  be  detained  long  enough 
for  the  epidemic  to  have  spent  its  force  in  Cadiz, 
before  her  arrival  there.  He  replied  to  her  solici- 
tations with  an  assurance  that  he  would  have 
taken  as  much  pleasure  in  granting  her  second  as 
her  first  request,  if  it  could  be  granted  with  pro- 
priety. But  the  ship  was  loaded,  almost  ready  to 
sail,  and  her  destination  could  not  now  be  chang- 
ed. He  told  her  further,  that  his  invariable  rule 
of  conduct  was  to  determine  on  the  course  he  in- 
tended to  pursue,  and  to  arrange  all  his  affairs  in 
conformity  with  that  course,  and  then  to  press 
forward,  and  use  the  best  means,  and  his  utmost 
exertions,  to  bring  about  a  favorable  result.  But 
in  relation  to  those  matters  which  belonged  ex- 
clusively to  the  government  of  God,  he  left  them 
in  His  hand,  their  results  to  be  borne  patiently  if 
adverse,  and  received  thankfully  if  prosperous. 
That  if  she  dared  not  trust  Robert  (her  son)  in 
His  hands,  he  could  leave  the  ship  without  incur- 
ring any  censure  for  timidity,  or  occasoning  in- 


PEACE.  121. 

convenience  or  delay  to  the  ship,  as  his  place 
could  readily  be  supplied.  The  struggle  between 
her  fears  for  her  son's  life,  and  apprehensions  of 
his  losing  a  situation  he  had  been  so  anxious  to 
obtain,  was  truly  distressing.  But  Robert  par- 
took more  of  his  Captain's  trust  and  confidence 
than  of  his  mother's  fears,  and  could  not  endure 
the  idea  of  relinquishing  a  berth  which  fulfilled 
his  present  hopes,  and  gave  a  promise  for  the  fu- 
ture too  bright  to  be  darkened  by  apprehension 
of  danger,  to  which  he  must  expect  to  be  always 
exposed,  and  which  it  was  part  of  the  education 
he  was  now  acquiring,  to  learn  to  look  in  the  face 
without  shrinking.  His  mother,  therefore,  en- 
deavored to  be  resigned,  and  allowed  him  to  de- 
part, with  as  little  display  of  those  feelings  by 
which  he  would  be  as  distressed,  on  her  account, 
as  she  was  on  his,  as  possible,  and  he  sailed  in  the 
ship  for  Cadiz. 

Before  their  arrival  at  that  port,  the  epidemic 
had  ceased,  and  the  effects  of  its  ravages  were  only 
felt  in  the  hearts  that  had  suffered  bereavements, 
not  seen  in  the'  hurry  and  bustle  of  business  that 
enlivened  the  city  at  the  period  of  the  Ocean V 
arrival.  In  the  mean  time  the  epidemic  had  made 
its  appearance  at  Havana,  and  if  the  destination 
of  the  ship  had  been  changed,  in  compliance  with 
the  wishes  of  the  anxious  mother,  she  would  have 
arrived  at  the  period  when  the  disease  was  at  its 

bright,  and  peculiarlv  fatal  to  strangers. 
11 


122  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL    E.    KOOfE. 

The  epidemic  had  disappeard  from  Havana 
previous  to  tho  ship's  arrival  there,  and  after  ac- 
complishing the  business  of  the  voyage,  she  re- 
turned in  safet}'  to  New  York,  with  all  on  board 
in  good  health.  Mrs.  Field  expressed  her  grati- 
tude to  Capt.  Foote,  for  refusing  her  second,  as 
strongly  as  for  granting  her  first  request,  and  her 
hope  now  was  that  her  son  might  become  such  a 
man  as  his  Captain,  and  that  she  might  have  an 
opportunity  of  presenting  him  to  her  father,  and 
claiming  from  him  that  pride  in  his  grandson 
which  she  felt  in  her  son.  This  hope  was  cher- 
ished for  a  considerable  period,  with  bright  pros- 
pects of  its  fulfillment.  Robert  soon  became  a 
respectable  shipmaster,  and  at  so  early  an  age  as 
to  justify  his  mother  in  anticipating  for  him  a 
favorable  career,  in  which  all  her  best  hopes  should 
be  fulfilled — the  hopes,  namely,  which  a  widoAved 
mother  always  feels  in  the  future  of  an  only  son. 
who  has  given  such  proofs  of  a  dutiful  and  virtu- 
ous character,  that  she  asks  nothing  more  for  her- 
self, than  to  witness  the  prosperity  and  happiness 
which  she  thinks  must,  of  course,  attend  him. 
But  alas!  these  bright  anticipations  were  destined 
to  be  of  brief  duration.  Robert  died  at  sea,  soon 
after  he  attained  the  command  of  a  ship,  leaving 
his  bereaved  mother  inconsolable,  and  when  the 
writer  saw  her  two  years  afterward,  his  memory 
seemed  to  be  the  only  object  of  her  thoughts,  and 
her  grief  so  fresh  and  deep,  as  to  render  her  in- 
capable of  comfort. 


BUENOS     AY  RES.  123 


CHAPTEE     VIII 

BUENOS    AYRES. 


He  left  a  name — 

To  point  a  moral."— Johnson. 


The  office  of  Sheriff  of  the  city  and  county  of 
New  York,  was  one  of  the  most  valuable  of  the 
'spoils  of  victory  "  obtained  by  the  Democratic, 
or  self-styled  Eepublican,  party,  on  the  successful 
termination  of  the  struggle  between  that  and  the 
Federal  party,  in  the  year  1814.  This  office  was 
bestowed  on  Buggies  Hubbard,  a  most  active  and 
efficient  partisan,  whose  aid  in  obtaining  the  vic- 
tory was  very  marked,  and  whose  personal  influ- 
ence with  the  voters  was  seen  to  be  so  great  as  to 
entitle  him  to  a  most  important  portion  of  the 
spoils. 

He  was  a  man  of  restless,  enterprising  charac- 
ter, possessed  of  boundless  ambition,  and  in  a 
wonderful  degree  of  those  talents  for  acquiring 
popularity  with  the  masses,  which  have  always 
distinguished  successful  demagogues,  and  been  the 
most  efficient  means  for  the  accomplishment  of 
the  designs  of  the  ambitions.     These  talents  had 


124  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    K.    FOOTB. 

been  successfully  exhibited  in  the  political  strug- 
gles of  the  two  great  parties,  into  which  our  coun- 
try was  then,  as  always,  divided. 

He  had,  at  the  commencement  of  his  career  as 
a  politician,  joined  the  party  then  styled  Eepubli- 
can — afterwards,  and  until  the  present  time,  Dem- 
ocratic— which  designation  they  assumed  instead 
of  Anti-Federal,  their  style  at  the  formation  of  the 
two  political  parties,  after  those  of  Whig  and  Tory 
had  terminated.  In  this  party  he  displayed  a 
boldness  and  confidence  which  were  among  the 
causes  of  his  success,  and  which  were  unlooked 
for  by  his  warmest  friends. 

The  parties  in  the  State  of  New  York  were  so 
nearly  balanced,  that  it  was  in  the  power  of  such 
a  man  to  turn  the  scale.  The  struggle  between 
them  had  been  carried  on  with  such  energy  and 
perseverance,  as  to  give  ground  for  the  belief,  that 
the  doctrine  that  ':to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils,'' 
was  a  deep  seated  principle  with  leading  politi- 
cians ;  the  period  of  such  unblushing  corruption 
as  permitted  its  avowal  as  a  party  dogma,  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  had  not  yet  arrived.* 

The  county  of  Albany,  and  the  senatorial  dis- 
trict of  which  it  formed  a  portion,  was  the  most 
decidedly  Federal  of  any  part  of  the  State,  and 
Stephen  Van  Kensellaer,  a  Federalist  of  the 
school  of  Washington,  was  the  most  popular  man 
in  that  district,  and  second  to  none  in  respectabil- 

:':  AppeDdix  No.  3. 


BUENOS    AYRE8.  125 

ity  of  character  in  that  State,  or  even  in  the 
United  States.  This  man,  in  that  district,  Hub- 
hard,  a  young  and  obscure  lawyer,  opposed  as  a 
candidate  for  the  State  Senate,  and  to  the  univer- 
sal astonishment  of  all  parties,  was  successful. 

His  effective  talent  for  controlling  the  votes  of 
the  million  consisted  in  being  able  to  make  them 
see  and  feel  the  genial,  kindly  disposition  which 
characterized  him,  and  which  was  perceived  to  be 
in  his  nature,  not  assumed — though  used — to  pro- 
mote his  ambitious  aims. 

Tnder  the  first  Constitution  of  1777,  the  State 
of  New  York  was  divided  into  four  Senatorial 
districts,  and  from  each  of  these  districts  one 
member  was  selected  to  constitute,  with  the  Gov- 
ernor, a  "  Council  of  Appointment,''  as  it  was 
styled  ;  a  body  which  had  the  control  of  all  the 
offices  in  the  State.  Hubbard  was  chosen  a  mem- 
ber of  this  body,  and  obtained  the  best,  office  it 
could  bestow. 

This  early  tide  of  success  did  not  satisfy  but 
rather  increased  his  ambition,  as  is  its  regular 
effect  in  similar  cases.  An  opportunity  for  its  dis- 
play occurred  during  the  term  in  which  he  held 
his  office,  (the  appointment  being  for  three  years,) 
which  impelled  him  to  the  adoption  of  rash  and 
ruinous  projects,  and  finally  caused  his  early 
death. 

The  Spanisli  Provinces  in  America  had  for  some 

time  been  in  an  anomalous,  revolutionary  state: 

some  of  them   had  attained    their  independence 
*11 


126  MEMOIR    OP   SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

and  among  these  was  the  Republic  of  Buenos 
Ayres,  which  sent,  in  1815,  an  ambassador  to  the 
United  States,  Don  Martin  Thompson  by  name. 
He  was  empowered  to  make  some  private  nego- 
tiations with  individuals,  and  in  the  course  of 
them  became  acquainted  with  Hubbard,  whose 
ambition  was  directed  towards  those  Provinces 
which  had  not  yet  become  independent,  in  which 
he  proposed  to  take  advantage  of  their  disordered 
condition,  and  by  some  bold  course  of  oj^erations, 
raise  himself  to  the  dignity  of  a  lawgiver  and 
founder  of  a  state,  in  which  he  might  become  a 
second  Washington. 

For  the  commencement  of  these  designs,  how- 
ever, large  funds  were  necessary,  and  his  first  ob- 
ject was  to  devise  the  ways  and  means  for  making 
a  large  and  rapid  fortune.  With  commercial 
operations  and  principles  he  was  unacquainted, 
but  he  had  seen  that  by  them  such  fortunes  had 
been  acquired,  and  thought  (as  many  persons  do 
of  farming)  that  no  particular  knowledge  of  the 
subject  was  necessary,  but  that  genius  and  enter- 
prise would  stand  in  the  place  of  every  requisite 
for  success. 

The  Buenos  Ayrean  Government  was  desirous 
to  introduce  the  French  tactics  and  discipline  into 
their  armies,  but  possessing  no  officers  with  the 
necessary  knowledge  for  this  purpose,  Don  Martin 
was  authorized  to  engage  a  certain  number  of 
French  officers,  and  send  them  out  at  the  expense 


BUENOS    AYRES.  127 

of  the  government,  and  give  them  their  suitable 
rank  in  the  armies  of  the  Eepublie. 

After  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  the  occupation  of 
an  immense  number  of  Buonaparte's  officers  was 
gone,  and   many  of  them  had  emigrated   to  the 
United  States,  and  were  living  in  our  large  cities. 
They  did   not   seem    to    possess   that   facility  of 
changing  their  avocations  with    their  change   of 
circumstances,  which  distinguished  their  country- 
men who  emigrated    in    the  early  period  of  the 
French  revolution.     Many  of  them  were  living  in 
a  state  of  great  destitution — in  obscurity  and  idle- 
ness— hard  for  such  men  to  endure,  and  it  was  to 
them  a  manifest  God-send  to  be  offered  service  in 
any  army  of  any  country  whatever.     It  was  conse - 
quently  a  matter   of  no  difficulty  to   engage    as 
many  as  were  wanted.     Hubbard  opened  a  nego- 
tiation with  Don  Martin  for  the  transportation  of 
these  men,  and  also  for  the  second  object  of  his 
mission,    which    required    his   attention    in    New 
York. 

The  success  of  the  introduction  of  steam-boat 
navigation  on  the  Hudson  river  had  been  so  sig- 
nal and  decisive,  as  to  attract  the  attention  of  most 
civilized  countries,  and  those  who  possessed  rivers 
susceptible  of  that  kind  of  navigation,  were  de- 
sirous to  imitate  the  brilliant  example  of  America, 
and  introduce  it  into  their  territories.  The 
Buenos  Ayrean  Government,  just  then  emerging 
from  their  half  savage  state  of  colonial  degeneracy, 
seemed  desirous  of  showing  themselves  worthy  of 


128  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTB. 

the  independence  they  had  acquired,  by  introduc- 
ing as  fast  as  possible,  those  marks  of  improved 
and  improving  civilization  which  were  then  in 
progress  in  Europe  and  North  America,  and  from 
which  the}'  had  been  debarred  in  their  colonial 
state.  The  jealousy  of  foreigners,  which  had 
marked  the  Spanish  Government  from  the  period 
of  the  establishment  of  its  American  colonies,  had 
restrained  their  enterprise,  and  thereby  caused  in- 
dolence and  degeneracy.  Don  Martin  was  author- 
ized by  his  government  to  grant  privileges,  simi- 
lar to  those  granted  to  Fulton  and  Livingston  by 
the  State  of  New  York,  to  any  individual  or  com- 
pany that  might  be  induced  to  introduce  steam- 
boat navigation  into  their  dominions. 

The  project  was  afterwards  discovered  to  be — 
like  many  other  projects — planned,  not  because  it 
was  likely  to  be  successful,  but  because  a  similar 
one  had  been  successful  somewhere  else,  and  under 
different  circumstances.  And  it  is  not  strange 
that  such  a  notion  should  be  adopted  in  that  semi- 
civilized  country,  when  in  the  sharp-sighted,  close- 
calculating  State  of  Connecticut,  characterized  by 
the  extreme  of  caution  in  public  undertakings,  the 
people  were  so  dazzled  by  the  success  of  the  New 
York  canals,  which  had  been  constructed  when, 
and  where,  and  because,  they  were  wanted,  that 
they  supposed  a  similar  success  would  attend  one 
in  their  own  State,  where  it  was  not  wanted;  and 
they  built  one  from  New  .Haven  to  North  Hamp- 
ton.    This  they  were  fortunate  enough  to  convert 


BUENOS    AYEES.  12M 

into  the  bed  of  a  railroad,  after  a  few  years,  thus 
obliterating  a  memento  of  their  folly,  and  making 
the  best  of  a  blunder. 

Hubbard  considered  that  he  had  achieved  a 
great  success  in  obtaining  this  grant  of  the  exclu- 
sive privilege  of  steamboat  navigation  to  himself 
and  his  associates,  for  an  unlimited  period,  to- 
gether with  some  commercial  privileges  which, 
together,  he  supposed  would  be  the  foundation  of 
a  great  and  rapid  fortune,  such  an  one  as  would 
enable  him  to  undertake  the  higher  object  he  had 
in  view,  with  the  requisite  facilities  for  commenc- 
ing and  carrying  it  forward. 

He  had  known  Foote  intimately  from  his  boy- 
hood, had  been  with  him  during  his  residence  in 
Jamaica,  and  returned  from  that  Island  in  his 
company,  and  knew  his  qualifications  for  conduct- 
ing operations  requiring  energy,  tact,  perseverance 
and  knowledge  of  men,  better  than  he  did  his 
own  ^qualifications  for  carrying  out  projects  and 
plans  so  extensive  and  varied  as  those  he  now 
had  in  view.  He  therefore  used  all  those  powers 
of  persuasion,  which  he  possessed  in  so  eminent  a 
degree,  to  induce  him  to  undertake  the  manage- 
ment of  the  business  throughout. 

Foote  was  far  from  being  as  sanguine  in  respect 
to  the  success  of  the  undertaking  as  Hubbard, 
who,  to  induce  him  to  bestow  on  it  his  time  and 
talents,  agreed  to  give  him  an  equal  portion  in  the 
profits,  both  of  the  steam  navigation  and  the  com- 
mercial grant  of  privileges. 


13«  MEMOIR    OK    SAMUEL    E.     FOOTE. 

He,  however,  was  persuaded  to  undertake  and 
prosecute  the  business ;  which  he  did  with  his  ac- 
customed energy.  He  bought  a  ship  for  the  joint 
account  of  Hubbard  and  himself,  and  immedi- 
ately fitted  her  for  the  transport  of  the  French 
officers. 

The  commander  in  chief  of  these  men  had  been 
an  aid-de-camp  to  Napoleon,  and,  as  he  said,  had 
received  from  him.  in  acknowledgement  of  some 
daring  act  of  bravery  on  the  field  of  Waterloo,  the 
title  of  Baron  Ballina,  of  which  he  was  Very  ten- 
acious,  so  that  his  real  name  was  scarcely  known, 
and  it  being  one  of  those  unpronounceable  Polish 
names,  annoying  to  eye  and  ear,  was  well  lost. 
His  second  in  command  was  also  a  Pole,  with  an 
equally  unpronounceable  name.  Their  military 
titles  were  General  and  Colonel.  The  other  officers 
were  captains  and  lieutenants,  all  of  them  French- 
men. Most  of  these  men  were  so  totally  devoid 
of  all  moral  principle,  that  they  appeared  in  their 
conversation  to  have  no  idea  of,  or  capacity  for. 
the  slightest  degree  of  that  attribute  of  humanity; 
there  were,  however,  a  few  exceptions,  and  only 
those  were  successful  in  their  future  career.  Moral 
principle  had  not  been  inculcated  in  the  French 
armies,  not  being  considered  there  an  element  of 
success.  Implicit  obedience  to  the  commands  and 
will  of  Napoleon  took  the  place,  in  those  armies, 
which,  in  pious  Christians,  is  given  to  the  com- 
mands of  God. 


BUENOS     AYRKS.  131 

And  it'  professing  Christians  in  general  would 
•serve  their  God  with  half  the  zeal"  that  these 
men  served  their  Emperor,  the  histories  of  nations 
would  not  be  such  exclusive  Newgate  calenders  of 
crimes  as  they  have  ever  been.  The  worship  of 
Buonaparte  was  combined  with  that  of  the  bloody 
idol  honor,  which,  with  them — as  with  us — abro- 
gated the  moral  law,  substituting,  in  its  stead. 
doctrines  to  which  it  is  diametrically  opposed. 

Capt.  Foote  was  not  pleased  with  the  prospect 
before  him  of  making  a  long  voyage  in  such  com- 
panv.  but  he  determined  to  keep  the  control  of 
them  at  all  hazards.  He  was  always  strict  and 
unyielding  in  his  discipline  with  his  men.  and  de- 
termined to  be  equally  so  with  his  passengers,  re- 
quiring, in  all  eases,  implicit  obedience  to  his 
commands. 

pfthe  necessity  of  this  determination  proof  was 
given  before  the  sailing  of  the  ship.     On  the  dav 

J.  *, 

appointed  for  her  departure,  the  writer  went  on 
board  to  take  leave  of  his  brother,  but  learned 
that  he  was  attending  to  some  business  on  shore. 
He  found  the  two  Poles,  the  General  and  Colonel, 
at  the  dinner  table,  over  their  wine,  engaged  in  a 
warm  dispute  in  their  native  language,  which  no 
one  on  board  understood  but  themselves.  One  of 
them  at  length  became  so  heated  with  passion, 
that  he  seized  a  decanter  and  struck  the  other  on 
the  head  with  it,  breaking  it  and  the  head  of  his 
adversary,  who  in  return  took  up  a  carving  knive 
and  made  a  thrust    at  the  other's   throat  with  it, 


132  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOXE. 

but  missing  his  aim  he  struck  the  forehead,  and 
the  skull  being  too  hard  to  be  penetrated,  the 
knife  glanced  around  it,  making  an  ugly  gash, 
but  doing  no  other  injury.  A  great  row  and  con- 
fusion very  naturally  ensued,  the  passengers  all 
seeming  disposed  to  join  in  the  melee,  some  of  them 
appearing  willing  to  have  a  private  battle,  on  a 
small  scale,  got  up  in  order  to  prevent  their  war- 
like faculties  from  abatement  by  non  user.  At  this 
moment  Capt.  Foote  returned  on  board,  and  no 
one  ever  saw  him  roused  to  so  vehement  an  asser- 
tion and  display  of  his  authority,  nor  ever  before 
or  afterwards  heard  hini  use  those  hard  words 
which  were  formerly  considered  a  necessary  por- 
tion of  a  sailor's,  as  well  as  trooper's,  vocabulary, 
and  which  were  not  then,  as  tiny  are  now,  con- 
sidered inconsistent  with  the  language  of  a  gentle- 
man, lie  addressed  them  with  a  sternness  of 
command  and  a  fiery  vehemence'  under  which — 
insolent  and  overbearing  as  they  had  been — they 
quailed  like  whipped  hounds :  he  ordered  them  to 
cease  their  disorderlv  conduct,  and  n'ive  an  account 
of  its  cause.  They  explained  it  in  the  French 
language  so  that  all  could  understand  and  judge 
the  merits  of  the  quarrel.  It  proved  to  be  a  dis- 
pute beginning  with  a  matter  of  trivial  import- 
ance, and  proceeding  until  the  explosion  was 
caused  by  the  application  of  one  party  to  the  other 
of  an  insulting  term  (maiwais  siyct)  which  could 
not  be  endured  by  one  who  had  been  an  officer  of 
the  "grande  armee"  of  Xapoleon. 


BUENOS  AYRES.  133 

Capt.  Foote  then  warned  them  that  he  was  to 
be  commander-in-chief  during  the  voyage,  and 
that  they  must  all  yield  to  him  implicit  obedience 
or  go  on  shore  immediately,  and  that  he  should 
not  permit  any  such  transgression  of  the  laws  of 
good-breeding  as  had  just  been  exhibited,  and 
would  punish  any  such  outbreaks  of  violence, 
without  regard  to  rank  or  station,  in  the  offend- 
ers. Their  habits  of  military  obedience  were  now 
manifested,  and  all  agreed  to  submit  to  the  Cap- 
tain's authority,  investing  him  with  the  arbitrary 
power  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed  in  the 
French  army  to  yield  unquestioning  obedience. 

The  ship  sailed,  but  in  the  course  of  her  voy- 
age, the  quarrel  broke  out  again,  and  Ballina 
would  have  killed  the  Colonel  with  a  hatchet 
which  he  threw  at  him,  if  his  aim  had  been  as 
good  as  his  temper  was  bad.  The  Captain  was 
thereupon  required  to  interpose  his  authority  to 
restore  peace  and  order.  He  assured  the  parties 
that  anv  renewal  of  such  disorderlv  conduct 
would  be  treated  as  mutiny,  and  the  offenders 
put  in  irons,  and  kept  so  until  their  arrival  at 
Buenos  Ayres,  when  he  would  deliver  them  to  the 
proper  authorities.  This  threat  of  being  ironed 
like  common  criminals  was  very  hard  of  diges- 
tion by  the  proud  commander-in-chief,  but  there 
were  some  on  board  who  had  sailed  with  Capt. 
Foote  before,  and  were  able  to  testify  that  the  dis- 
cipline  of  his  ship  was  never  relaxed  under  any 
circumstances,  and  that,  in  relation  to  it,  what- 
12 


134  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTS. 

ever  promisee  he  made  would  be  fulfilled  at  any 
hazard.  Xo  chance  for  a  successful  mutiny  in 
resentment  of  the  Captain's  rigid  discipline  ap- 
pearing, as  all  the  sailors  and  some  of  the  French 
officers  were  ready  to  obey  his  orders,  whatever 
they  might  be.  the  General  thought  best  to  bo 
quiet  during  the  remainder  of  the  voyage,  ami 
order  thenceforth  reigned  in  the  ship,  as  remark- 
ably as  it  once  did  in  Warsaw. 

After  the  arrival  of  the  ship  at  Buenos  Ayres. 
and  the  transfer  of  the  command  of  the  passen- 
gers to  the  constituted  authorities,  thev  were  sent 

CI?  I  %> 

to  their  stations  at  Mendoza.  where  they  very 
early  displayed  the  need  of  a  continuation  of 
Capt.  Foote's  rigid  discipline.  The  government 
soon  discovered  that  the  introduction  of  French 
tactics  and  discipline  into  their  army  by  French 
officers,  was  not  as  brilliant  an  idea  as  they  had 
expected,  and  that  foreign  teachers  were  not  suit- 
able instructors  in  their  armies.  The  conduct  of 
Ballina  soon  became  so  atrocious,  that  he  was  ar- 
rested and  ordered  to  be  sent  back  to  the  United 
States.  The  order  was  not,  however,  enforced; 
but  what»was  the  termination  of  his  career  was 
never  learned. 

Some  of  the  vounu-  men  who  went  to  Buenos 
Ayres  with  him,  were.  Capt.  Foote  says,  worthy 
young  men,  but  one  only  ever  attained  any  dis- 
tinction. Capt.  Foote  met  with  him  some  years 
afterwards,  at  Lima,  in  the  army  of  San  Martin, 


BUENOS  AYRES.  135 

in  which  he  held  a  high  rank,  and  was  of  good 
repute  for  character  and  talents. 

After  finishing  that  portion  of  his  business 
which  related  to  his  French  passengers,  he  direct- 
ed his  attention  to  the  other  objects  of  his  expe- 
dition, and  first  to  that  of  the  introduction  of 
steam  navigation  upon  the  waters  of  the  .La  Plata 
and  its  tributaries.  This  he  soon  discovered  was 
a  hopeless  project,  and  that  steamboats  would 
have  as  little  prospect  of  finding  profitable  em- 
ployment there  as  canal  boats  had  found  at  New 
Haven. 

After  making  all  possible  investigations,  and 
obtaining  from  the  commercial  members  of  the 
community  all  the  details  of  the  business  of  the 
country,  and  the  manner  in  which  it  was  con- 
ducted, as  well  as  the  course  and  manner  of  travel 
in  that  country,  he  was  satisfied  that  an  attempt 
to  carry  out  the  steamboat  project  would  be  a 
wild-goose  chase,  and  the  sooner  all  idea  of  it  wTas 
relinquished,  the  more  apparent  would  be  his  dis- 
cretion. In  his  letters  to  Hubbard,  after  giving 
the  information  he  had  gained,  he  says  that  under 
such  circumstances  their  commercial  projects  were 
out  of  the  question,  and  steamboat  navigation 
worse  than  out  of  the  question,  for  in  that  coun- 
try the  travel  was  exclusively  on  horseback,  and 
that  the  inhabitants  must  be  brought  within  the 
pale  of  civilization  fan  event  far  in  the  dim  dis- 
tance of  time)  before  they  could  comprehend  the 


13G  MEMOIR  OF  SAMUEL    E.    POOTB. 

advantage  of  any  other  mode  of  travel  than  that 
to  which  they  were  accustomed. 

A  Buenos  Ayrean,  if  he  wished  to  make  a  rapid 
journey,  would  select  from  a  drove  of  a  thousand 
or  ten  thousand  horses,  such  an  one  as  he  ap- 
proved, mount  him  and  ride  at  full  speed  a  hun- 
dred miles  or  more,  and  if  this  trial  killed  him. 
the  value  of  the  hide  was  so  near  that  of  the  liv- 
ing animal,  that  the  loss  was  of  no  consequence; 
but  if  he  was  able  to  endure  such  a  trial  he  was  a 
most  valuable  animal,  and  became  a  favorite  Avith 
his  master,  whose  life  is  nearly  all  spent  on 
horseback. 

Among  such  a  people,  it  was  as  hopeless  to  at- 
tempt to  inspire  any  idea  of  the  advantages  of 
steam  navigation,  as  it  would  be  to  give  our  law- 
givers in  Congress  a  correct  idea  of  the  advan- 
tages of  good-breeding,  and  to  make  them  under- 
stand that  killing  a  waiter  for  neglect  of  due  ser- 
vility to  the  representatives  of  the  freest  people 
on  earth,  is  inconsistent  with  common  politeness, 
and  the  laws  of  God,  which  ought  to  have  the 
preference  to  those  of  honor. 

Commercial  operations  in  that  country  were 
conducted  in  the  most  dilatory  and  expensively 
tedious  ways,  and  he  says  in  his  letters,  "It  would 
take  more  time  than  I  can  spare,  to  detail  the 
toil,  and  trouble,  and  difficulty  of  purchasing  and 
shipping  a  cargo,  and  I  think  I  would  hardly  ac- 
cept of  $100,000  as  a  present  if  I  were  obliged  to 
embark  it  in  the  produce  of  this  country."     *     * 


BUENOS  AYRES.  137 

11  You  are  obliged,  if  you  have  any  cargo,  to  em- 
ploy the  launches  of  the  country  to  discharge  it, 
and  run  the  risk  of  losing  one-half,  and  having 
the  other  half  damaged,  for  which  you  pay  a 
greater  price  than  you  would  for  carrying  it  from 
America  to  Europe/'  *  *  "If  you  happen  to 
be  in  want  of  any  thing  on  board,  there  is  no 
ship-chandler  to  whom  you  could  go  and  supply 
yourself,  and  your  only  resource  is  to  take  a  horse, 
ride  round  the  city  and  country  until  you  find 
some  out-of-the-way  kind  of  thing  which  may  an- 
swer your  purpose,  and  for  which  you  have  to  pay 
five  times  as  much  as  it  is  worth — then  get  a  per- 
mit from  the  custom-house — then  leave  from  the 
Gfuarda — then  to  be  examined  by  the  Besguarda — 
then  go  to  the  Mole  for  a  boat — and  then  wait  for 
good  weather  to  take  it  off.  If  the  river  be  low. 
a  small  boat  cannot  come  within  half  a  mile  of 
the  quay,  and,  in  this  case,  carts  are  employed  to 
communicate  with  her,  and  if  you  happen  to  get 
belated,  or  the  weather  proves  bad,  you  are 
obliged  to  drag  her  up  on  to  dry  land,  turn  her 
over,  and  set  a  guard  over  her,  and  wait  till 
morning  or  good  weather  returns/' 

The  commercial  privileges  granted  by  Don 
Martin  were  not  sufficient  to  induce  a  continua- 
tion of  a  trade  with  such  a  country,  and  it  was 
abandoned,  after  taking  two  cargoes  to  Spain, 
from  whence  he  returned  to  New  York. 

He  found  Hubbard,  in  pursuance  of  his  original 
design,  and  undeterred  by  his  want  of  success  in 
12* 


138  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

raising  a  rapid  fortune,  j)lanning  a  filibustering 
expedition   to    Florida.      From    this    project   he 
(Foote)  endeavored  to  turn  his  attention,  repre- 
senting the  disappointment  he  would  experience 
even  in  case  of  success,  from  a  want  of  knowledge 
of  the  Spanish  character.     But  although  Hubbard 
held  a  most  enthusiastic  opinion  of  Foote's  judg- 
ment and  talents,  his  heart  had  been  so  long  and 
so    deeply   fixed    upon    this    expedition,    that   he 
could  not  be  persuaded  to  relinquish  it.     All  his 
powers  of  exhortation,  on  the  contrary,  were  ex- 
erted to  induce  Foote  to  join  him,  and   all  the 
visions  of  a  bright  imagination  were  themes  of 
persuasion :  but  they  could  not  dazzle  the  strong- 
common  sense,  nor  overcome  the  principle  which 
repelled  the  feelings  of  Foote  from  an  undertaking 
so  lawless  and  dangerous. 

IsTo  arguments,  however,  nor    any  representa- 
tions of  the  probable  result  of  his  project,  were 
powerful  enough  to  induce  Hubbard  to  relinquish 
it.     He  had  held  a  correspondence  with  some  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  province,  and  with  Aury7 
a  kind  of  freebooter,  who  had,  or  pretended  to 
have,  a  commission  from  one  of  the  South  Amer- 
ican revolutionary  governments  to  cruise  against 
the  Spaniards.     He  had  several  vessels  under  his 
command  and  was  styled  commodore.     Hubbard 
was  encouraged  in  the  belief  that  he  could  take 
possession  of  the  country  without  resistance,  and 
that   Aury  with  his   fleet  would  furnish  a  navy 
sufficient  to  guard  against  any  force  that  Spain. 


BUENOS   AYRES.  139 

in  her  then  depressed  situation,  would  be  likely 
to  send  for  the  recovery  of  the  territory. 

A  Scotchman,  calling  himself  Sir  Gregor  Mac- 
Gregor,  was  at  the  same  time  planning  a  similar 
expedition,  pretending  to  have  authority,  and 
assurances  of  support,  from  the  governments  of 
Mexico,  New  Grenada  and  Florida.  He  had  the 
advantage  of  a  prepossessing  appearance,  his 
figure  large  and  commanding,  and  his  bearing 
that  of  one  accustomed  to  command,  but  that  was 
all. 

Hubbard  was  decidedly  inferior  to  him  in  person- 
al appearance,  but  superior  in  every  other  quality. 
He  determined  to  be  in  advance  of  any  operations 
on  the  other's  part,  and,  collecting  a  body  of  such 
desperate,  unscrupulous  men  as  usually  constitute 
the  troops  employed  in  filibustering  expeditions, 
he  embarked  them  on  two  vessels  which  he  had 
purchased  for  this  object,  and,  resigning  his  valu- 
able office,  sailed  for  Amelia  Island.  He  arrived 
there  after  a  short  and  easy  passage,  landed  his 
troops,  and  took  possession  of  the  Island  without 
resistance,  and  raised  the  standard  of  independ- 
ence for  Florida. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  province  generally  were 
tired  of  Spanish  domination,  and  ready  to  join 
any  leader  that  offered  himself  as  a  chieftain  to 
lead  them  on  to  freedom  and  independence,  which, 
like  all  the  other  Spanish  colonists,  they  thought 
would  bring  them  happiness  and  prosperity,  not 
being  at  all  aware  how  unfitted  for  self-govern- 


140  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.   FOOTE. 

ment  centuries  of  colonial  subjection  had  rendered 
them. 

Hubbard's  popular  manner  and  talents  immedi- 
ately attracted  the  favor  of  all  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Island,  who,  soon  after  his  arrival,  unani- 
mously elected  him  their  Governor.  Three  days 
after  this  he  was  attacked  by  the  yellow  fever  and 
died,  and  all  his  plans  died  with  him. 

This  termination  of  one  of  the  earliest  filibus- 
tering expeditions  from  the  United  States,  afford- 
ed one  of  the  maii3r  unheeded  warnings  against 
such  expeditions — expeditions  which  have  since 
been  so  often  repeated,  and,  in  most  cases,  ter- 
minating in  still  stronger  demonstrations  of  their 
folly.  This  piratical  spirit,  which  was  so  early 
directed  against  the  Spanish  colonies  in  America,* 
seems  to  have  sprung  up  anew  in  this  enlightened 
nineteenth  century,  and  forms  a  i^rominent  fea- 
ture in  the  lawless  proceedings  by  which  our 
country  has  been  disgraced. 

Hubbard,  at  the  commencement  of  his  political 
career  in  New  York,  was  the  rival  of  Martin  Yan 
Buren,  and  while  a  member  of  the  council  of  ap- 
pointment, the  strife  between  them  for  mastery  in 


":  The  Buccaneers  of  the  Seventeenth  century  were  the  precursors  of  our 
modern  filibusters.  They,  however,  had  suffered  heavy  wrongs  from  the 
Spaniards,  for  which  they  sought  redress  and  vengeance.  Those  of  the 
present  day  have  no  such  pretext.  They  possessed  the  daring,  courage  and 
enterprise  of  men  in  a  state  of  desperation,  which  tho  moderns  do  not. 
Their  conduct  after  a  series  of  successful  raids  and  robberies,  and  tho  com- 
mission of  atrocious  barbarities,  is  an  exemplification  of  the  moral  results 
of  successful  piracies. 


BUENOS   AYRES.  141 

the  party  was  violent  and  bitter.  Hubbard  was 
successful  in  the  struggle,  and  if  he  could  have 
submitted  to  be  governed  by  Foote's  advice,  might 
have  retained  his  ascendancy,  and  perhaps  been 
equally  successful  in  the  struggle  for  the  Presi- 
dency of  the  United  States.  The  fable  of  the 
dog  and  the  shadow  never  had  a  better  illustra- 
tion, and  the  pointing  of  a  moral  by  the  termina- 
tion of  his  career  was  as  decided,  though  not  of 
as  world-wide  fame,  as  that  of  "Swedish  Charles/' 

Hubbard's  death  left  the  field  open  to  Mac- 
(Jregor,  avIio,  says  Hildreth,*  "Having  collected  a 
band  of  adventurers  in  Charleston  and  Savannah, 
took  possession  of  Amelia  Island,  at  the  same 
time  proclaiming  the  blockade  of  St.  Augustine. 
In  the  hands  of  these  desperadoes,  this  Island  was 
soon  converted  into  a  resort  for  buccaneering  pri- 
vateers under  the  Spanish- American  flag,  and  a 
depot  for  smuggling  slaves  into  Texas/' 

Whether  MacGregor's  career  was  stopped  by 
death,  or  by  his  want  of  power  to  lead  his  desper- 
adoes to  new  undertakings,  is  not  known ;  he 
never  emerged  from  the  obscurity  into  which  he 
sunk,  as  soon  as  lawful  measures  were  adopted 
for  the  suppression  of  his  piratical  course. 

*  History  of  the  United  States. 


142  MEMOIR    OF     SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

M  A  D  A  M  E       B  A  L  L  I  N  A 


;  And  Hope  attends,  companion  of  tbc  way, 
Thy  dream  by  night,  thy  visions  of  the  day. 

While  Memory  watches  o'er  the  sad  review 

Of  joys  that  faded  like  the  morning  dew ; 

Peate  may  depart,  and  life  and  nature  seem 

A  barren  path,  a  wilderness,  a  dream." — Cajipbeli. 


When  Gen.  Ballina  came  from  France  to  Amer- 
ica, he  was  accompanied  by  his  wife,  a  Spanish 
lady  of  great  beauty,  whose  short  history  had 
already  been  very  eventful.  She  had  been  one  of 
the  celebrated  "heroines  of  Saragossa,"  having 
belonged  to  the  corps  of  ladies,  organized  by  tho 
Countess  of  Burita,  to  aid  in  the  defence  of  the 
city,  by  services  in  the  hospitals,  and  wherever 
else  their  services  might  be  made  available. 

Madam  Ballina  was  not  only  beautiful,  but  pos- 
sessed of  "that  grace  of  Spanish  women  which  all 
recognize  and  none  can  describe,  for  mere  form 
and  feature  does  not  explain  it."*     Her  manners 

*  Urquhart. 


MADAME    BALL1NA.  143 

and  general  bearing  gave  the  idea  rather  oi  a 
Titania  than  a  Clorinda  or  a  Britomart — of  a 
.sylph  or  fairy  rather  than  a  heroine.  She  had. 
however,  taken  a  very  active  part  in  the  female 
corps  to  which  she  belonged,  and  which  during 
the  seige  had  exhibited  an  extraordinary  degree, 
as  well  of  patient  endurance  of  labor  and  fatigue, 
as  of  daring  enterprise  and  courage,  by  which 
they  were  so  exposed  as  to  be  sometimes  engaged 
in  skirmishes  with  detachments  of  the  beseiginix 
army.  In  one  of  these  she  had  been  engaged; 
and  was  slightly  wounded  in  the  neck  by  a  French 
soldier,  who  was  about  to  finish  his  barbarity  bv 
killing  her,  when  she  was  rescued  bv  Ballina. 
From  gratitude  for  this  deliverance,  she  married 
him  and  followed  his  fortunes.  He  carried  her  to 
Paris,  where  her  beauty  and  romantic  adventure- 
made  her  a  personage  of  extraordinary  interest, 
and  the  most  polite  and  friendly  attentions  were 
bestowed  on  her  by  the  ladies  of  the  court,  and 
by  the  imperial  princesses  especially.  Belonging 
to  a  family  of  the  highest  order  of  the  ancient 
Spanish  nobility,  she  was  on  that  account,  proba- 
bly, more  caressed  and  petted  by  the  parvenu 
nobility  of  the  imperial  court  than  one  from  a 
humble  origin  would  have  Item  with  equal  celeb- 
rity and  beauty. 

When  her  husband,  during  the  hundred  day-, 
obtained  favor  with  his  master,  Napoleon,  suf- 
ficient to  be  made  one  of  his  aids,  he  left  his  wife 
with    the    imperial   princesses,   ami   followed    tl 


144  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

Emperor  to  Waterloo,*  expecting  to  return  with 
the  spoils  of  victory — Avith  honors  and  nobility — 
and  her  expectations  pointed  to  the  enjoyment  in 
France  of  a  rank  equal  or  superior  to  that  which 
she  had  renounced  in  Spain.  These  hopes  and 
anticipations  were  destined  to  a  grievous  disap- 
pointment by  the  result  of  the  battle,  which  con- 
demned Napoleon  to  perpetual  Promethean  tor- 
ture on  the  rock  of  St.  Helena. 

Ballina,  with  many  other  officers  of  the  French 
army,  emigrated  to  the  United  States,  and  had 
resided  sometime  in  a  state  of  poverty  and  desti- 
tution hard  to  be  endured,  in  the  city  of  New 
York. 

The  expedition  to  Buenos  Ayres  awakened  new 
hopes — hopes  destined  to  meet  a  still  more  severe 
and  bitter  disappointment  than  those  crushed  by 
the  Battle  of  Waterloo. 

On  this  expedition  Madam  Ballina  could  not 
accompany  her  husband,  as  the  Buenos  Avrean 
government  only  provided  for  the  transportation 
of  the  officers  engaged  by  Don  Martin,  and  they 
had  no  private  funds  to  enable  them  to  provide 
passages  for  themselves.  Ballina  was  therefore 
compelled  to  leave  his  wife  in  New  York,  promis- 
ing to  send  for  her  as  soon  as  suitable  provision 


*  Capt.  Foote  speaking  of  Ballina,  in  one  of  his  letters  says  :  "  One  of  the 
officers  who  came  out  with  Carrera  (Gen.  Lavasse)  knew  him  in  Francej 
and  says  he  has  always  been  every  thing  that  is  base,  villainous  ami  cow- 
ardly, and  that  only  the  interest  which  the  Empress  and  Trincess  Pauline 
took  in  his  wife  raised  him  to,  and  maintained  him  in,  the  rank  lie  held 
under  Buonaparte."" 


MADAME    BALLINA.  145 

could  be  made  for  her  passage,  and  for  her  com- 
fort on  her  arrival  at  Buenos  Ayres.  The  writer 
>a\v  her  for  the  first  time  on  hoard  the  ship  in 
which  her  husband  was  to  sail  the  next  day.  She 
was  inquiring  about  the  comforts  provided  for  the 
passengers  on  the  voyage,  and  the  dangers  to 
which  they  would  be  exposed  in  crossing  the 
equinoctial  line,  and  other  perils  of  the  torrid 
zone  and  hurricane  latitudes.  Like  a  young 
school  girl,  she  enquired  whether  they  poured  oil 
on  the  waters  in  these  modern  times  in  case  of  a 
tempest,  and  whether  there  was  a  supply  of  it  on 
board.  She  had  no  foresight  of  the  tempest  that 
would  be  awakened  the  next  day.  on  board  the 
ship,  while  in  port,  requiring  the  oil  of  command- 
ing authority  to  control,  as  related  in  the  last 
chapter. 

She  was  left  at  New  York  in  a  situation  very 
little  suited  to  her  habits  of  life,  with  a  very  lim- 
ited provision  for  her  support  until  her  husband 
could  send  for  her  to  join  him  in  Buenos  Ayres. 

On  Capt.  Foote's  return  to  New  York,  after  his 
voyage  from  South  America  to  Cadiz,  he  made  in- 
quiries respecting  her,  and  learning  her  situation, 
which  was.  in  fact,  that  of  a  deserted  wife,  he 
called  on  her  for  the  purpose  of  communicating 
such  intelligence  respecting  her  husband  as  was 
in  his  power,  softening  it  as  much  as  he  could 
consistently  with  the  advice  he  intended  to  give. 
This  was  to  seek  a  reconciliation  with  her  father, 
who.  bein^  a  Spanish  nobleman,  and  still  wealthy, 
13 


14b'  MEMOIR     OP    SAMUEL    E.    EOOTE. 

notwithstanding  the  devastation  of  his  country 
and  the  sack  of  his  city,  would  doubtless  relieve 
her  pecuniary  distress. 

In  the  state  of  feeling  which  existed  in  Spain 
during,  and  after,  the  French  invasion,  no  greater 
or  more  unpardonable  crime  could  be  committed 
by  one  of  her  daughters  than  marrying  a  French- 
man.  and  especially  one  of  the  invaders,  Avhose 
unrestrained  barbarities  were,  like  those  of  the 
Indians  of  our  country,  marked  by  such  deep  and 
damning  outrages  as  could  never  be  forgiven  or 
forgotten.  Notwithstanding  the  existence  of  that 
feeling,  however,  Capt.  Foote  believed  that  if  her 
father  could  be  made  to  understand  her  true  situ- 
ation, and  should  be  appealed  to  with  the  display 
of  a  penitent  spirit,  and  with  a  filial  humility,  it 
would  be  impossible  for  him  to  resist  such  an  ap- 
peal. Even  if  he  should  refuse  to  be  fully  recon- 
ciled to  her,  he  surely  would  not  refuse  to  grant 
her  pecuniary  relief.  He  recommended  her  to 
write  a  letter  to  him,  giving  a  full  account  of  her 
situation  and  of  her  wish  to  be  reconciled  to  her 
parents.  She  said  that  she  had  already  written 
such  a  letter,  and  also  one  to  one  of  the  French 
princesses  at  Paris.  From  her  father  she  had 
received  no  reply,  but  from  the  princess  a  very 
pleasant,  friendly  answer  had  been  immediately 
returned.  It  invited  her  to  return  to  Paris, .where 
a  situation  should  be  provided  for  her  which  would 
secure  her  future  comfort.  This  invitation  she 
was  desirous  to  accept,  but  had  not  the  funds  ne- 


MADAME    BALLINA.  147 

cessary  for  her  outfit  and  for  the  payment  of  her 
passage  to  Havre.  Capt.  Foote,  therefore,  immedi- 
ately interested  himself  in  her  behalf,  and  secured 
a  passage  for. her  in  the  first  ship  that  was  to  sail 
for  that  port.  He  also  made  such  provision  for 
her  comforts,  and  the  necessary  facilities  for  her 
proceedings  on  her  arrival  in  France  as  he  would 
have  made  for  a  sister.  But  at  almost  the  last  mo- 
ment, when  she  had  only  to  embark,  having  all 
her  affairs  arranged,  and  Capt.  Foote  was  ready 
to  see  her  safely  on  shipboard,  she  informed  him 
that  she  had  received  a  letter  from  her  father  with 
a  remittance  of  two  thousand  dollars,  and  had,  in 
consequence,  changed  her  determination  respect- 
ing her  return  to  France,  but  instead  thereof  had 
resolved  to  go  to  her  husband  at  Buenos  Ayres. 
This  step  he  foresaw  would  destroy  every  chance 
of  happiness  for  her  future  life;  though  the  ban- 
ishment of  Ballina  had  not  then  been  carried  into 
effect,  if  it  had  been  decreed;  yet  his  knowledge 
of  the  man's  character  taught  him  that  his  wife 
must  necessarily  be  miserable  with  him,  since  the 
indulgence  of  his  evil  passions  had  rendered  him 
almost  insane. 

The  triumph  of  womanly  affection  and  confi- 
dence in  the  man  on  whem  her  earliest  affections 
had  been  bestowed,  over  discretion  and  expe- 
rience— of  hope  over  warnings  and  disappoint- 
ments— was  as  complete  as  it  was  mistaken  and 
unfortunate.  She  went  to  Buenos  Ayres  and 
joined  her  husband,  who.  when  he  had  obtained 


148  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

the  money  sent  lier  by  her  father,  made  her  life 
so  miserable  that  it  could  not  be  endured.  Hope 
was  so  completely  subdued  that  it  could  shed  no 
gleam  of  brightness  on  the  path  of  her  future 
life.  She  left  America  in  a  British  ship  for  Eu- 
rope, but  whether  she  went  to  her  friends  in 
France,  or  returned  to  her  family  in  Spain,  was 
not  known. 


PERU.  149 


CHAPTER    X 


PER  U. 


"  Why  those  various  toils, 


Those  wanderings  o'er  the  wide-extended  main." — Potter. 

"  They  I  i 

Over  ocean  wide, 
With  a  hempen  bridle  and  horse  of  wood." — Old  Ballad. 


In  his  commercial  operations,  and  the  course  of 
his  trade  with  Cadiz  and  Havana,  Foote  had 
formed  intimate  commercial  and  friendly  rela- 
tions with  Peter  Harmony,  a  very  eminent  mer- 
chant of  New  York,  and  also  wTith  his  brother, 
Francis  Ximenes  Harmony,  of  Cadiz,  an  equally 
eminent  merchant  of  that  city,  which  lasted  dur- 
ing their  lives,  and  controlled  or  influenced  all 
that  remaining  portion  of  his  life  which  was  de- 
voted to  navigation  and  foreign  commerce. 

These  gentlemen  were  of  the  historical  family 
of  Ximenes,  which  gave  to  Spain  its  greatest 
statesman,  in  the  person  of  the  celebrated  Cardi- 
nal of  that  name,  Prime  Minister  to  Charles  Y; 
and  their  commercial  talents  were  not  inferior,  in 
the  pursuits  they  had  chosen,  to  those  of  the 
statesman  in  that  higher  vocation,  in  which  suc- 
13* 


150  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

cess  confers  fame,  preferring  that  in  which  it  con- 
fers wealth.  Their  name,  in  consequence  of  its 
initial  being  one  of  those  unpronounceable  gut- 
turals introduced  by  the  Arabs  into  the  Spanish 
language,  was  Anglicized  by  Don  Pedro  into 
Harmony,  which  name  was  added  to  that  of  his 
family  by  Don  Francisco. 

Yarious  mercantile  adventures  had  acquainted 
these  parties  with  each  other's  talents  and  busi- 
ness qualities,  and,  in  consequence,  established  a 
well  founded  confidence,  which  was  never  shaken, 
and  a  firm,  enduring  friendship,  such  as  men  of 
worth  and  integrity  are  always  disposed  to  cher- 
ish. 

They  built  for  their  joint  account  a  beautiful 
bark,  in  which  Foote  introduced  some  improve- 
ments in  the  rigging,  which  were  adopted  as  soon 
as  seen  in  all  square-rigged  vessels.  He  made 
several  voyages  in  her  to  Spain  and  the  West 
Indies,  but  she  was  soon  found  to  be  too  small  for 
the  views  of  the  owners.  They  therefore  resolved 
to  build  a  ship  of  the  largest  class,  and,  accord- 
ingly, built  the  Fabius,  a  ship  which  at  that  time 
was  of  that  class ;  ships  of  one  to  two  thousand 
tons  had  not  then  been  thought  of  as  suited  to 
any  branch  of  the  commerce  of  our  country.  The 
Ehinelanders,  of  New  York,  had,  about  the  be- 
ginning of  the  century,  built  the  Manhattan,  of 
near  six  hundred  tuns,  but  she  was  built  for  glory 
rather  than  profit,  being  too  large  for  any  trade 


PERU.  151 

that  was    carried   on   at   that   period,   and    could 
never  bo  made  profitable. 

The  Fabius  was  as  beautiful  a  corvette  as  had 
ever  been  built,  and  her  ownership  was  equally 
shared  by  Harmony,  Foote,  and  Eckford  the  cel- 
ebrated ship-builder,  who  was  afterward  sent  for 
by  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  to  superintend  the  build- 
ing of  ships  for  his  navy  at  Constantinople.  By 
the  exercise  of  his  talents  in  the  construction  of 
her  hull,  and  those  of  Foote  in  the  arrangement 
of  her  rigging,  she  was  probably  the  most  beauti- 
ful and  perfect  ship  in  the  commercial  marine  of 
the  United  States,  which  already  included  some 
of  the  best  specimens  of  naval  architecture  in  the 
world.  Her  first  voyage  was  to  Cadiz,  carrying 
as  passengers,  Mr.  Forsyth,  American  Ambassa- 
dor to  the  Court  of  Madrid,  and  his  family.  At 
that  port  the  ships  of  all  the  commercial  nations 
of  the  world  are  seen,  probably,  in  greater  vari- 
ety than  in  any  other,  London  not  excepted,  and 
there  the  Fabius  excited  universal  admiration, 
and  gained  the  palm  of  superiority  in  beauty,  in 
capacity  for  easy  management,  and  in  that  com- 
bination of  sailing  and  carrying  qualities  united, 
which  had  always  been  the  greatest  desideratum 
in  the  construction  of  merchant  vessels. 

Soon  after  her  arrival,  Mr.  F.  X.  Harmony  ob- 
tained, from  the  government  at  Madrid,  permis- 
sion for  her  to  trade  with  the  Spanish  colonies  on 
the  Pacific,  for  which  trade  she  was  better  adapt- 
ed than  any  of  the  Spanish  ships  that  had  for- 


152  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTT. 

merly  been  employed  in  that  trade,  being  better 
qualified  for  rounding  Cape  Horn  with  safety,  as 
well  as  for  making  her  voyages  in  much  shorter 
periods — qualities  of  which  her  subsequent  per- 
formances gave  sufficient  proofs. 

She  was  loaded  with  a  cargo  of  upwards  of  six 
hundred  thousand  dollars  value,  shipped  chiefly 
by  different  Spanish  merchants  who  had  had  ex- 
perience in  the  trade  with  those  colonies,  and 
knew  what  kinds  of  merchandise  they  required. 
There  was  probably,  at  that  time,  no  trade  with 
am*  country  in  the  world,  where  a  knowledge  of 
that  kind  was  so  useful  in  directing  the  articles 
suitable  for  its  commerce :  a  curious  exemplifica- 
tion of  which  was  given  by  some  British  mer- 
chants in  one  of  the  earliest  of  their  adventures 
to  Peru.  The  English  arc  not  exceeded  by  their 
Yankee  descendants  in  their  eagerness  to  be  the 
first  in  carrying  supplies  to  any  new  market  that 
may  be  opened  to  their  trade. 

These  merchants,  in  their  anxiety  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  trade  with  the  Spanish  colonies  on 
the  Pacific,  did  not  wait  to  ascertain  what  articles 
were  suitable  to  their  market,  nor  what  would  be 
the  proper  mode  of  transacting  the  business  of 
this  new  field  of  commerce,  but  made  up  a  cargo 
for  Lima  which  might  have  been  suitable  for  Cal- 
cutta, but  was  very  unsuitable  for  Peru. 

This  cargo  seemed  to  be  selected  under  an  im- 
pression (not  uncommon  with  John  Bull)  that 
British  goods  comprised  every  thing  desirable  in 


PERU.  153 

any  market,  and  that  such  goods  were  more  de- 
sirable than  any  other  in  all  markets.  Their 
cargo,  being  made  up  in  accordance  with  this 
opinion,  consequently  included  a  quantity  of  Lon- 
don porter,  a  liquor  which  it  was  taken  for  grant- 
ed every  body  liked,  and  would  drink  if  it  could 
be  obtained.  This  opinion,  however,  proved  to 
be  as  groundless  as  that  of  the  Xova  Scotians  res- 
pecting the  comparative  prowess  of  British  and 
American  frigates.  London  porter  could  not  be 
sold  at  any  price  in  Peru:  indeed,  it  could  scarcely 
be  given  away.  The  consignees,  therefore,  verv 
judiciously  concluded  that  the  most  suitable  dis- 
position that  could  be  made  of  this  liquor  would 
be  to  drink  it  themselves.  Acting  in  conformity 
with  this  opinion,  they  obtained  a  profit  equal  to 
the  expectations  of  the  shippers  by  selling  the 
empty  bottles  at  a  dollar  each,  although  they 
could  not  have  been  sold  at  half  a  dollar  a  dozen 
when  thej'  were  bottles  of  porter. 

The  Fabius  made  her  passage  with  the  usual 
experience  of  stormy  weather  in  rounding  Cape 
Horn,  and  arrived  safely  at  Callao,  the  port  of 
Lima,  six  miles  distant,  at  a  period  more  stormy 
and  dangerous  on  shore  than  any  of  the  storms 
she  had  encountered  at  sea.  The  period  of  her 
arrival  was  one  of  great  public  calamity  and  ex- 
tensive and  dee])  private  distress. 

The  province  had  been  conquered  by  an  army 
under  Gen.  San  Martin,  from  Buenos  Avres. 
This  army  had  first  marched  to  Chili,  conquered 


15-1  3IEM0IR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

and  revolutionized  that  province,  and  established 
an  independent  republican  government  there. 
San  Martin  then  proceeded  to  Pern,  which  prov- 
ince also  was  subdued  with  very  little  opposition. 
He  was  proclaimed  Protector  of  the  Republic,  and 
was  a  dictator  with  despotic  power,  as  every  con- 
quering general  is  in  the  region  he  subdues.  In 
all  countries,  and  especially  in  the  Spanish-Amer- 
ican provinces  during  their  struggle  for  independ- 
ence, in  revolutionary  periods  the  peaceful  pur- 
suits of  commerce  are  not  held  in  as  much  respect 
as  at  ]S"ew  York  or  Cadiz  in  ordinary  times;  great 
difficulties  were,  of  course,  experienced  in  the 
transaction  of  commercial  business.  Private 
property  was  esteemed  rather  as  a  raw  material 
which  might  be  converted  into  the  '; sinews  of 
Avar.''  than  as  a  matter  subject  to  individual  con- 
trol. It  was  regarded  rather  as  a  means  of  af- 
fording  facilities  for  furthering  the  operations  of 
the  conqueror,  than  as  means  of  contributing  to 
the  comfort  of  its  proprietors.  This  doctrine  be- 
ing one  of  those  established  by  prescription  and 
general  approbation  in  all  invading  armies,  was 
exemplified  in  faith  and  practice  by  both  parties, 
as  power,  subsequently,  passed  from  one  party  to 
the  other. 

The  obstacles  to  the  prosecution  of  a  peaceful 
commerce,  and  the  difficulties  in  the  conduct  of  it 
when  thus  forced  out  of  its  usual  channels,  may 
readily  be  imagined.  The  talents,  the  vigilance 
and  sagacious  industry  necessary  to  transact  com- 


PERU.  155 

mercial  business,  and  bring  it  to  a  successful  re- 
sult, under  such  circumstances,  are  very  rarely 
united  in  any  individual,  and  the  plan  and  man- 
ner of  education  adopted  by  Foote,  as  record- 
ed in  our  third  chapter,  were  calculated  to  form 
such  a  man  as  those  circumstances  required. 

He,  however,  possessed  some  extrinsic  advan- 
tages which  were  more  accidental.  Some  of  the 
officers  in  the  army  of  San  Martin  (one  of  them 
holding  a  high  rank)  had  been  of  the  number  of 
those  carried  by  Capt.  Foote  to  Buenos  Ayres, 
and,  of  course,  held  him  in  high  regard  for  his 
character  and  talents,  and.  probably,  gave  him  in- 
fluence with  San  Martin.  His  character,  also,  of 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  gave  him  a  higher 
standing  than  any  other  would  have  held,  from 
his  nationality,  among  the  revolutionists.  This 
estimation  was  probably  strengthened  bv  the 
presence,  in  the  harbor  of  Callao,  of  the  United 
States  ship,  Franklin  (74),  commanded  by  Capt. 
Stuart,  whose  energy  and  decision  of  character 
no  one  of  any  party  would  have  desired  to  see  ex- 
erted for  the  protection  of  any  of  his  fellow  coun- 
trymen from  any  wrong. 

The  influence  which  it  was  perceived  was  pos- 
sessed by  Capt.  Foote  with  all  parties,  subjected 
him  to  many  solicitations  for  the  exercise  of  that 
influence  in  behalf  of  various  oppressed  and  suf- 
fering individuals,  to  which  he  always  responded 
promptly,  and.  in  most  cases,  effectively. 


156  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

And  not  only  individuals,  but  public  institu- 
tions, sought  and  obtained  his  assistance.  A  val- 
uable diamond  was  presented  to  him  in  acknowl- 
edgment of  his  services  in  protecting  a  convent 
of  nuns  from. military  license  during  the  most 
lawless  period  of  the  occupation  of  the  city  by 
the  enemy's  army.  Other  services  which  he 
rendered  to  the  exposed  and  the  suffering,  ob- 
tained less  eostly,  but.  to  the  heart,  not  less  valu- 
able, testimonials  of  his  efforts  in  the  cause  of  hu- 
manity. The  blessings  of  many  who  were  ready 
to  perish  came  upon  him,  and  among  them  were 
some  of  the  poor  priests,  who.  in  the  license  of 
the  times,  were  not  spared  from  reverence  for 
their  office. 

To  the  pure  and  Christian -like  character  of 
many  of  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy,  he  bore  te 
timony,  although  his  early  life  and  education  had 
been  calculated  to  excite  in  his  mind  strong  prej- 
udices against  that  order  of  men.  In  that  city, 
so  long  famous  for  the  corrupt  and  licentious  man- 
ners prevailing  there,  men  who,  from  the  influence 
of  their  religion,  could  preserve  purity  in  life,  were 
entitled  to  a  high  degree  of  respect,  and  some 
such  men  were  found  there. 

The  acts  of  kindness  which  he  Was  happy  in 
performing  for  them,  he  considered  such  as  begin 
and  end  with  the  occasion  that  calls  them  forth— 
to  be  thought  of  no  longer;  but,  on  his  return  to 
Spain,  he  found  that  they  had  given  him  a  repu- 
tation such  as  he  had  never  expected  to  obtain. 


PERU.  157 

and  such  as  no  heretic  had  ever  enjoyed  in  that 
region  before.  One  lady  expressed  a  great  desire, 
and  strong  hopes  and  expectations,  that  he  would 
be  converted  to  the  true  Catholic  faith,  in  which 
case  she  expected  he  would  become  a  saint.  Oth- 
ers also  expressed  the  most  sanguine  hopes  of  his 
conversion  and  consequent  salvation. 

But  the  conduct  of  his  own  affairs,  and  the 
judicious  management  of  the  business  confided  to 
him  by  others,  required  incessant  vigilance  and 
labors  such  as  were  not  often  seen  in  that  region 
of  indolence  and  self-indulgence. 

The  disordered  state  of  affairs,  however,  and 
the  delays  consequent  thereon,  caused  him  a  de- 
tention of  eight  months  at  Lima  before  his  busi- 
ness could  be  closed.  But  this  to  the  Spaniards, 
accustomed  as  they  were  to  the  slow  progress  of 
commercial  transactions  in  the  South  American 
provinces,  did  not  seem  so  extraordinary  a  delay 
as  it  would  be  to  a  hurrying,  driving  Yankee, 
whose  motto  is.  that  "time  is  money/'  and  money 
the  one  thing  needful.  The  whole  of  this  period 
was  one  of  incessant  labors,  cares  and  watchful- 
ness, wearisome  alike  to  bodv  and  mind.  To 
protect  the  property  entrusted  to  him  by  hia 
Spanish  friends,  in  such  times  of  military  licenso 
and  revolutionary  misrule,  required  talents  as  ex- 
traordinary as  the  circumstances  that  called  them 
into  exercise,  and  a  wearisome  vigilance  more 
Irving  to  the  constitution  than  the  night  and  day 
14 


158  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

watches   on   shipboard  when  passing  the  storm j 
cape. 

The  settlement  of  his  commercial  affairs  at 
Lima  was,  however,  at  length  happily  effected, 
and  the  Fabius  sailed  for  Guyaquil,  where  she 
took  a  return  cargo  for  Cadiz,  at  which  port  she 
arrived  in  safety  without  damaging  a  spar,  sail  or 
rope,  although  in  rounding  Cape  Horn  the  ship  - 
was  exposed  to  the  tempestuous  weather  which 
seems  to  be  almost  perpetually  prevailing  in  that 
latitude. 

The  voyage  terminated  profitably  to  owners 
and  shippers,  and  having  been  effected  at  a  pe- 
riod when,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  dangers  of 
commercial  adventures,  the  extraordinarv  ones 
arising  from  the  disordered  state  of  the  South 
American  provinces  were  added,  it  was  consid- 
ered an  achievement  which  could  only  have  been 
accomplished  by  the  exercise  of  a  rare  combina- 
tion of  talents.  The  special  protection  of  the 
saints,  also,  had,  in  the  opinion  of  some  of  the 
pious  shippers,  been  granted  to  the  prayers  of 
the  poor  priests,  who  had  received  benefits  for 
which  they  had  nothing  else  to  give  in  return. 

The  success  of  this  voyage,  under  the  difficul- 
ties which  threatened  a  disastrous  termination, 
and  which  had  been  happily  surmounted  by  the 
exercise  of  discreet  vigilance  and  a  capacity  to 
create  and  direct  circumstances,  seemed  to  inspire 
Capt.  Foote's  associates  and  friends  with  the  idea 
that  he  could  accomplish  any  object  that  he  might 


PERU.  159 

undertake,  and  they  immediately  proposed  a  sec- 
ond voyage  to  the  Pacific,  from  which  they  hoped 
that  the  knowledge  and  experience  gained  in  the 
first  would  aid  in  producing  a  still  better  result. 
The  physical  and  mental  fatigues  and  sufferings 
which  he  had  undergone,  however,  made  him 
hesitate    and    dread    a   repetition    of  them.      lie 

^represented  to  his  associates  that  they  ought  not 
to  expect  a  second  adventure  to  terminate  as  suc- 
cessfully as  the  first,  and  that  it  would  be  wiser 
to  be  content  with  what  they  had  gained  than  to 
risk  the  loss  of  it  by  trying  to  gain  more.  They, 
however,  would  not  be  convinced  that  there  could 
be  any  doubt  of  the  success  of  any  undertaking- 
confided  to  his  management,  and  assured  him  of  a 

.  profit  to  himself  in  any  case,  whatever  might  be 
the  termination  of  the  adventure  and  its  results 
to  themselves,  and  that  his  reputation  should  not 
be  lessened  by  any  result  however  unfavorable. 

Although  he  could  have  retired  at  that  time 
with  the  modest  competence  to  which  he  had 
looked  forward  at  the  commencement  of  his  ca- 
reer, yet  circumstances  had  since  occurred  which 
made  it  desirable  to  enlarge  his  demands  upon 
fortune,  and  he  was,  therefore,  more  easily  per- 
euaded  to  try  another  adventure.  This  was  to  be 
a  repetition  of  the  previous  voyage,  the  cargo  to 
consist  of  merchandise  similar  in  kind  and  amount. 
A  considerable  portion  of  the  cargo  consisted  of 
articles  suitable  only  to  the  trade  with  the  In- 
dians— a  traffic   which  yielded  large  profits,  but 


160  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

which  the  state  of  the  country  rendered  difficult 
and  extra-hazardous.  Another  portion  consisted 
of  such  Spanish  fabrics  as  the  colonists  had  been 
accustomed  to  use  and  to  pay  high  prices  for,  the 
policy  of  Spain  in  requiring  her  colonies  to  con- 
tribute to  the  prosperity  of  the  mother  country, 
by  consuming  her  manufactures,  having  been  as- 
decided  as  that  of  England.  This  system  had 
been  so  long  in  operation,  that  substitutes  tor 
Spanish  fabrics,  similar  in  kind,  and  even  if  bet- 
ter in  quality,  could  not  be  introduced.  Those 
articles  which  they  had  been  accustomed  to  use, 
and  to  pay  high  prices  for,  they  would  continue 
to  use,  and  pay,  if  necessary,  still  higher  j)rices- 
for.  even  if  better  articles  were  offered  them  at  a 
much  lower  price. 

On  this  second  voyage,  the  license  from  the 
Spanish  government  was,  from  unforeseen  cir- 
cumstances, occurring  previous  to  the  arrival  of 
the  Fabius  at  Callao,  probably  of  more  value 
than  on  the  former  voyage;  and  the  experiences 
of  that  expedition  aided  Capt.  Foote  greatly  to 
overcome  some  very  important  and  unexpected 
difficulties  in  the  transaction  of  his  business, 
which  had  arisen  among  the  recent  changes  of 
the  state  of  affairs  in  Peru. 

The  ship  passed  Cape  Horn  safely  and  without 
any  accident,  although  she  encountered  terrific 
storms,  with  more  than  the  usual  quantity  of 
perilous  fatigues  and  apprehensions  on  the  part  of 
the  officers  and  crew.     The  care  which  had  beer* 


PERU.  1G1 

bestowed  in  causing  the  construction  of  the  hull 
to  be  as  perfect  as  knowledge  and  skill  could 
make  it;  with  the  provision  of  every  thing  in 
rigging  and  tackle  likely  to  be  wanted  in  any 
event,  was  found  to  be  an  insurance  against  loss 
of  which  the  underwriters  share  the  benefits  with 
the  owners. 

On  this  voyage,  while  going  down  the  coast 
toward  Lima,  the  Fabius  had  occasion  to  stop  at 
a  very  obscure  port,  the  name  of  which  had 
scarcely  ever  been  heard  on  this  side  of  the  con- 
tinent. After  casting  anchor,  w^hen  the  captain 
was  preparing  to  go  on  shore,  he  said  to  his  mate, 
"Well,  there  is  one  novelty  I  shall  certainly  find 
here — a  place  without  a  Yankee  inhabitant." 
Observing,  however,  a  boat  coming  from  the 
shore,  he  awaited  her  arrival,  and  on  her  coming 
along  side,  a  young  gentleman  came  on  board 
from  her  who,  at  sight  of  the  Captain,  exclaimed : 

"Why,  Capt.  Foote,  is  this  you?" 

"It  surely  is,  if  you  are  Eldridge,  about  which 
I  can  hardly  believe  my  senses !  But  how  came 
you  here,  and  what  are  you  doing  in  this  out-of- 
the-world  place?" 

"  Oh,  I  have  been  drifting  along  down,  and 
thought  I  would  stop  here  and  see  if  something 
could  n't  be  done  in  a  place  where  there  are  no 
Yankee  competitors — hav  n't  done  much  yet,  but 
expect  something  will  turn  up  that  I  can  take  ad- 
vantage of;  they  are  so  lazy  in  this  country  that 
there  is  n't  much  danger  of  competition  if  any 
14* 


102  MEMOIR  OF  SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

thing  should  offer."  And  in  the  changes  and 
chances  which  in  those  revolutionary  times  were 
taking  place,  it  is  probable  that  something  did 
turn  up,  but  of  what  nature  is  not  known.  The 
right  or  wrong  of  the  occurrences  of  those  times 
were  not  easily , comprehended  by  the  million, 
most  of  whom  were  ready  to  follow  any  leader  in 
any  enterprise  ho  might  propose,  the  labor  of 
thinking  for  themselves  being  too  heavy  a  task. 

After  transacting  some  trifling  business  which 
had  caused  her  delay,  the  Fabius  sailed  for  Are- 
quipa,  and,  not  being  long  detained  there,  pro- 
ceeded to  Callao,  where  she  arrived  after  a  pas- 
sage of  ninety -three  days  from  Cadiz. 

At  the  time  of  her  arrival  there  on  the  previous 
voyage,  San  Martin,  with  the  revolutionary  army, 
had  captured  the  city,  and  was  punishing  the 
royalists,  including  in  tiat  class  all  on  whom  he 
chose  to  lav  contributions. 

At  this  period,  Canterae,  with  the  royalist 
forces,  was  in  the  ascendant,  having  reconquered 
the  province.  He  was,  as  a  general,  superior  in 
talents,  courage  and  skill,  to  San  Martin ;  but  no 
talents  or  skill  could  restore  permanently  the 
Spanish  dominion.  In  a  letter  of  23d  of  June, 
1823,  Capt.  Foote  says:  "We  have  been  in  a  most- 
terrible  state  of  alarm  ever  since  our  arrival,  and 
have  at  last  been  fairly  driven  into  the  sea  by  the 
royal  army,  which  is  now  in  possession  of  Lima. 
They  entered  it  on  the  18th  inst.,  without  firing  a 
shot,  and  are  now  amusing  themselves  in  levying 


PERU.  IGS 

contributions,  shooting  the  inhabitants  and  rob- 
bing the  houses.  It  is  thought,  however,  that 
they  will  not  remain  here  long,  and  wo  have 
hopes  of  their  returning  to  the  mountains  as  soon 
as  they  have  satisfied  themselves  with  the  booty 
they  are  collecting.  We  are  safely  lodged  on 
board  our  ship,  but  it  is  a  sad  thing  for  the  poor 
inhabitants,  thousands  of  whom  have  fled  from 
the  citv,  and  are  wandering  about  the  shore  with- 
out  shelter  and  without  food.  Those  who  remain 
are  subject  to  all  the  violences  and  exactions  of  a 
wanton  soldiery,  and  are  perhaps  more  to  be  pit- 
ied than  those  who  are  starving  along  the  coast. 
*  *  *  My  ship  is  full  of  people  who  have  fled 
from  the  town."' 

A  portion  of  the  cargo  of  the  Fabius  belonged 
to  a  person  in  very  bad  odor  with  the  royalists 
and  Foote  had  some  difficulty  in  saving  it  from 
their  clutches.  He,  however,  succeeded  in  pre- 
serving every  thing  under  his  care,  but  found  his 
situation,  if  possible,  still  more  exposed  to  annoy- 
ances and  vexations  than  on  his  former  voyage. 

In  a  letter  to  his  friends  at  Kutplains,  dated 
19th  July,  1823,  he  says:  "I  wrote  you  a  short 
time  since,  advising  you  that  we  had  all  been 
driven  out  of  the  city  by  the  royal  army,  and  were 
shut  up  in  Callao.  On  the  17th,  the  royalists 
evacuated  the  city,  after  having  squeezed  near 
two  millions  out  of  the  inhabitants,  and  we  are 
now  returning.  In  a  month  we  may,  probably, 
have   to   fly  again,  as   the   enemy  has  it  in  his 


164  MEMOIR    OF     SAMUEL    E.    FOOTF. 

power  to  come  back  whenever  he  chooses.  This 
state  of  uncertainty  has  put  an  entire  stop  to 
business,  and  I  am  no  further  advanced  in  my 
affairs  than  the  day  I  arrived.  *  *  *  A  short 
time  since  we  had  a  shock  of  an  earthquake,  but, 
fortunately,  its  motion  was  undulating,  and, 
therefore,  did  but  little  damage;  had  it  been  vi- 
brating, it  would  have  shaken  the  teeth  out  of 
our  heads.  The  undulating  earthquakes  do  not 
shake  houses  down ;  the  ground  only  opens  and 
swallows  them  up,  which  you  know  is  a  mere 
trifle.  In  the  one  we  had,  the  earth  opened  about 
a  mile  from  the  city,  so  that  we  all  escaped  with  a 
little  fright  and  a  great  deal  of  dust.  *  These 
are  strange  countries,  and  you  may  tell  G.  that 
those  who  come  here  for  dollars  buy  them  as 
dearly  as  in  digging  potatoes:  for  my  part  I  think 
I  shall,  in  future,  seek  for  them  somewhere  else." 
In  a  subsequent  letter,  dated  23d  of  September, 
he  says:  "The  city  is  entirely  drained  of  its 
wealth,  and  as  the  inhabitants  are  too  cowardly 
and  indolent  to  give  the  enemy  the  least  uneasi- 
ness, we  are  enjoying  all  the  security  of  poverty 
and  insignificance.  The  sad  situation  of  the 
country  has  been  the  cause  of  my  long  delay,  and 
I  have  yet  no  prospect  of  getting  away  in  less 
than  two  or  three  months.  *  *  *  You  can- 
not imagine  how  sick  and  tired  I  am  of  these 
long  voyages,  and  I  am  every  day  making  the 
strongest  resolutions  in  the  world  that  I  will 
never   undertake  any  more  of  them.     Will   you 


PERU.  165 

give  me  a  berth  at  Nutplains  if  I  Avill  promise 
not  to  go  to  sea  any  more,  and  will  tell  you  long- 
stories  about  these  strange  countries'/  Well,  wo 
will  see  when  I  get  home." 

The  state  of  poverty  and  destitution  to  which 
the  city  had  been  reduced  by  the  alternate  exac- 
tions of  patriot  and  royalist  armies  had  reduced 
many  of  his  friends  to  great  distress.  He  sj)oke 
of  one  whose  wealth  had  been  so  great,  and  with 
whom  the  precious  metals  were  formerly  so  plenty 
that  the  cornices  of  his  rooms  were  of  solid  sil- 
ver,* and  whose  command  of  wealth  seemed 
boundless,  who  had  been  driven  from  home  and 
forced  to  leave  his  wife,  bred  in  the  enjoyment  of 
every  luxury  that  wealth  could  o-ive,  in  a  state  of 
poverty  and  destitution  of  which  she  had  never 
dreamed.  ( 'apt.  Foote  was  enabled  to  be  of  ser- 
vice to  her,  as  well  as  many  others,  and  one  of  tt^ 
turns  of  fortune,  frequent  in  that  country,  restored 
the  family  to  a  more  comfortable  condition,  though 
not  to  its  former  opulence. 

The  churches  had  been  stripped  of  a  great  por- 
tion of  their  gold  and  silver  ornaments,  and  the 
clergy  were  obliged  to  share  the  sufferings  of  the 
laity.  Under  such  circumstances,  to  make  a  safe 
and  profitable  voyage  required  no  ordinary  tal- 
ents, together  with  a  laborious  and  sleepless  vigi- 


*The  mention  of  this  circumstance  was  to  illustrate  the  luxury  and  ex- 
travagance which  prevailed  in  the  city  previous  to  the  revolution,  and  the 
want  of  good  taste  in  its  display.  These  cornices  were  fastened  to  their 
places  with  coarse  iron  nails,  the  heads  of  which  were  visible. 


166  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

lance,  so  fatiguing  to  body  and  mind  as  to  elicit 
the  complaints  in  the  above  extracts  from  his  let- 
ters, and  to  fix  steadfastly  his  determination  never 
to  expose  himself  to  such  wearisome  and  exhaust- 
ing labors  and  cares  again  ;  a  determination  re- 
quiring strong  efforts  to  adhere  to,  as  will  be  seen 
presently. 

The  settlement  of  his  affairs  at  Lima,  requiring 
five  or  six  months  instead  of  the  two  or  three 
spoken  of  in  his  letters,  being  at  length  effected, 
the  Fabius  sailed  from  thence,  and  after  proceed- 
ing to  Payta,  Piura  and  (Juvaquil,  where  her  re- 
turn cargo  was  completed  and  shipped,  she  passed 
the  stormy  Cape  and  arrived  safe  at  Cadiz,  having 
never  in  her  four  passages  suffered  any  damage 
or  lost  a  man. 

Capt.  Foote  was  warmly  welcomed  by  his  Span- 
ish friends,  to  whom  the  detail  of  the  difficulties 
he  had  encountered,  and  the  manner  in  which 
they  had  been  conquered,  seemed  so  wonderful 
that  they  were  confirmed  in  their  previous  idea 
that  he  must  be  under  the  special  protection  of 
the  Saints  or  of  Nuestra  Sefiora  herself,  and  that 
it  was  possible  for  one  heretic  to  be  saved.  They 
urged  him  very  strongly  to  undertake  a  third  voy- 
age, offering  to  guarantee  twenty  thousand  dollars 
profit  to  himself,  whatever  might  be  the  result  of 
the  adventure,  and  assuring  him  that  the  reputa- 
tion he  had  acquired  with  them  should  not  be 
lessened  by  any  misfortune  or  evil  casualty  that 
might  occur.     He,  however,  was  fixed  in  the  dc- 


PERU.  1<)7 

termination  expressed  in  the  extracts  from  his  let- 
ters above  quoted,  and  resisted  the  solicitations  of 
his  friends,  who  were  convinced  that  the  favoring 
care  and  protection  of  him  by  the  Saints  had  been 
so  strikingly  manifested  in  so  many  perils  and 
dangers,  that  they  indicated  very  decidedly  that 
he  was  destined  to  be  brought,  eventually,  into 
the  true  Church,  and  saved  among  the  company 
of  the  faithful. 

He  was  not  only  unwilling  to  resume  those  cares 
and  labors  which  anticipate  the  march  of  time, 
but  was  satisfied  with  the  gains  he  had  already 
acquired,  and  was  anxious  to  begin  a  life  of  greater 
quiet,  in  which  he  might  indulge  those  feelings, 
which  having  been  gratified  in  one  object,  (that  of 
seeing  the  world  as  it  appears  in  different  coun- 
tries.) turn  to  other  objects  for  new  sources  of 
gratification. 

All  the  objects  of  his  life  beyond  the  acquisition 
of  the  means  of  support  and  comfort  for  himself 
and  those  dependent  on  him.  were  for  the  further- 
ance of  such  designs  as  are  intended  to  promote 
the  welfare  of  the  community,  and  increase  the 
progress  of  refinement  and  civilization.  In  doing 
this,  however,  he  never  displayed  any  ambition 
to  become  conspicuous  or  acquire  fame  ;  but  he 
recognized  the  duties  which  devolved  upon  him  as 
a  member  of  the  -community,  and  fulfilled  them 
faithfully. 

In  the  subsequent  events  of  his  life  he  experi- 
enced a  portion  of  the  dangers  and  hazards  of  the 


1GS  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

land,  and  overcame  them  as  happily  as  lie  had 
those  of  the  seas,  and  bv  a  similar  exercise  of  in- 
dustry,  discretion,  and  forethought. 


CINCINNATI.  169 


CHAPTER    XI 

CINCINNATI. 


The  cinl  and  the  reward  of  toil  is  rest." — Bf.attik. 


Although  Capt.  Foote.  at  the  termination  of  his 
second  voyage  around  Cape  Horn,  was  in  the  full 
tide  of  a  successful  career,  and  urged  with  very 
strong  inducements  to  continue  it.  he  felt  that  the 
cares  and  labors  of  bodv  and  mind  which  it  re- 
<juired.  were  too  great  and  exhausting  to  be  com- 
pensated by  any  amount  of  success.  He,  there- 
fore, persisted  in  his  determination  to  abandon  a 
career  of  life  which  would  inevitably  anticipate 
the  march  of  time,  and  bring  on  premature  old 
age. 

The  period!  to  which  he  had  looked  forward  for 
the  enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of  his  labors  and  cares 
seemed  to  have  arrived,  and  he  determined  not  to 
continue  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  until  the  desire  of 
gain  should  swallow  up  those  feelings  of  benevo- 
lence, charity  and  loving-kindness,  for  the  indul- 
gence of  which  wealth  is  chiefly  to  be  desired — 
before  every  feeling  and  principle  should  be  sub- 
jected to  the  desire  of  accumulation. 
15 


170  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

In  1827  he  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  An- 
drew  Elliott,  Esq.,  of  G-uilford,  and  as  he  had  al- 
ways determined  never  to  have  the  anxieties  re- 
specting the  welfare  of  a  wife  and  family  on  shore 
added  to  those  which  must  necessarily  weigh 
heavily  upon  him  at  sea,  he  resolved  to  exchange 
its  dangers  and  toils  for  those  of  the  land.  Being- 
provided  with  the  means  of  averting  such  of  those 
last  as  are  most  dreaded  in  prospect,  he  resolved 
to  look  around  his  own  country,  and  select  such  a 
place  of  residence  as  should  appear  most  eligible 
under  all  the  circumstances  which  it  was  necessary 
to  take  into  consideration  in  making  such  a 
choice. 

After  spending  some  time  in  visiting  various 
parts  of  our  country,  he  determined  to  relinquish 
his  character  of  a  citizen  of  the  world,  and  become 
a  citizen  of  Ohio  and  of  Cincinnati,  to  which  city 
his  elder  brother  had  emigrated  some  years  pre- 
vious, and  had  made  some  investments  there  in 
real  estate  for  his  account. 

Being  established  there,  he  immediately  began 
to  take  an  interest  in  all  matters  that  affected  the 
prosperity  of  the  city. 

The  first  of  these  objects  that  was  presented  to 
his  consideration,  was  "the  Louisville  and  Port- 
land Canal,"  for  the  construction  of  which  a  joint 
stock  company  had  been  chartered  by  the  Legis- 
lature of  Kentucky,  with  ample  powers  and  pri- 
vileges. Its  object  was  to  remove  the  obstruction 
to  the  free  navigation  of  the  Ohio,  occasioned  by 


CINCINNATI.  171 

the  falls — as  they  were  styled — of  that  river,  they 
being  dangerous  rapids,  and  impassable  by  boats 
except  during  a  few  days  in  the  year,  when  the 
river  was  raised  by  the  annual  freshets.  This 
work,  which  was  one  that  ought  to  have  claimed 
the  attention  of  the  Xational  government  among 
its  earliest  cares  for  the  commercial  prosperity  of 
our  country,  had  been  disgracefully  neglected; 
most  of  our  Eastern  legislators  probably  thinking 
the  taunt  of  John  Randolph,  that  the  Ohio  was  a 
river  "  dry  in  summer  and  frozen  in  winter,"  must 
have  some  grounds  for  its  justification;  and  our 
Western  men  were  then,  as  they  have  ever  since 
been,  too  ready  to  submit  to  the  dictation  of  South- 
ern statesmen,  and  surrender  the  interest  of  their 
constituents  to  the  (supposed)  necessity  of  follow- 
ing in  the  train  of  party  leaders — even  in  matters 
in  which  party  principles  were  not  concerned.* 
The  removal  of  this  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the 
commerce  of  so  large  a  portion  of  our  country — 
the  only  course  in  which  its  products  could  find 
their  way  to  suitable  markets — for  railroads  had 
not  then  been  invented,  nor  our  canals  to  the  lakes 
constructed — was  manifestly  one  of  the  greatest 
requisites  for  the  free  trade  of  the  Ohio  Yalley.f    It 

*  We  had  some  honorable  exceptions  from  Ohio,  some  whom  modern  de- 
generacy had  not  tainted. 

t  That  portion  of  the  duties  which  we  require  at  the  hands  of  our  National 
Legislature,  consisting  of  the  regulation  of  our  commerce,  including 
therein  such  provision  of  all  the  facilities  for  its  operations,  as  the  nation 
alone  can  give — has  been  exercised,  not  only  unequally,  but  unjustly  toward 
that  large  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  of  our  country,  the  citizens  of  the 


172  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

was  universally  considered  to  be  one  of  vital  im- 
portance to  the  prosperity  of  Cincinnati;  but  not- 
withstanding this  admission  by  all  its  citizens, 
very  great  efforts  were  required  to  induce  them  to 
farther  the  object  by  becoming  stockholders  in  the 
association.  To  this  stock  every  one  thought  it 
the  duty  of  his  neighbor  to  subscribe,  and  of  him- 
self to  commend  that  duty  toothers  ;  just  as  every 
one  thinks  it  the  duty  of  his  neighbor  to  practice 
the  Christian  virtues,  and  that  his  own  duty  is  to 
censure  him  for  his  short  comings  in  such  practice. 
Foote's  subscription  was  the  largest  in  Cincin- 
nati, but  few  others,  and  those  of  small  amounts, 
having;  been  obtained  in  that  city,  to  which  it  was 


<;reat  West.  The  internal  commerce  of  the  country  is  not  only  far  greater 
in  amount  than  our  foreign  commerce,  but  is  of  more  importance  to  the 
progress  of  our  country  in  improvement ;  and  its  comparative  value  is  con- 
stantly increasing. 

The  aids  of  government  toward  that  most  important  work,  the  Canal 
around  the  falls  of  the  Ohio,  doled  out  at  different  times  in  subscriptions  for 
its  stock,  and  making  the  tolls  pay  all  the  cost  of  the  work,  contrast  strong- 
ly with  the  liberal  disbursements  of  public  money  at  the  Pea-patch  in  the 
Chesapeake. 

The  taunt  of  John  Randolph  respecting  the  Ohio  river  may  be  laughed  at 
as  the  senseless  rhodomontade  of  a  boy — of  a  boy  so  flattered  and  petted  during 
his  boyhood,  that  he  was  thereby  continued  a  boy,  mentally,  all  his  life;  a 
smart,  sharp,  and  intelligent  one,  indeed,  but  only  the  more  troublesome  on 
that  account. 

The  ridiculous  idea  put  forth  by  Calhoun,  that  the  government  had  no 
right  to  make  improvements  in  rivers,  unless  they  passed  three  States,  is  ;» 
specimen  of  special  pleading  too  intricate  and  too  much  above  popular  com- 
prehension for  practical  use  in  a  popular  government.  The  remarkable 
metaphysical  talents  of  this  gentleman  could  not  be  sufficiently  appreciated 
by  the  people,  and  were  never  of  any  use  in  conducting  the  affairs  of  gov- 
ernment, during  the  period  in  which  he  was  the  master  spirit  of  a  large 
I  arty. 


CINCINNATI.  173 

acknowledged  to  be  of  the  greatest  importance, 
and  those  few  were  most  of  them  sold  or  aban- 
doned on  the  calling  in  of  the  second  and  third 
instalments.      The  largest  and  most  persevering 
stockholder   was   John   Shackford,    of  St.  Louis, 
whose  aid  was  so  essential  that  it,  probably,  saved 
the  work  from   being  abandoned,  as  a  previous 
project   of  building  one   on   the  Indiana   side  of 
the  river  had  been.     This  project  (the  Jefferson- 
ville  canal,)  had   been  so  far  carried  forward  as 
that  a  competent  engineer  had  been  procured  to 
superintend  the  work.     He  had  made  the  neces- 
sary surveys,  and  directed  a  commencement  of  the 
excavations ;  and  then  the  work  was  abandoned 
for  the  want  of  funds.     In  order  to  avoid  such  a 
catastrophe  in  the  case  of  the  Louisville  and  Port- 
land canal,  a  deputation  was  sent  to  the  East,  to 
invite  capitalists  there  to  embark  in  the  under- 
taking, and  the  work  may  be  considered  as  in- 
debted to  Messrs.  Shackford,  of  St.  Louis,  Eonald- 
son,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Ilulme,  of  New  York, 
for  its  completion.      The  former  of  these  gentle- 
men embarked  all  his  fortune  and  his  credit,  and 
the  others   not   only  invested   large  amounts   in 
money,  but  gave  much  of  their  personal  exertions 
and  superintendence,  until  the  work  was  complet- 
ed.    Some  aid  from  government  was  obtained,  but 
its  grants  were  on  a  very  contemptible  scale,  com- 
pared with  those  for  the  aid  of  foreign  commerce, 
on  our  Eastern  coasts  and  harbors.     They  were  in 
the  form  of  subscriptions  to  its  stock. 
15* 


174  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

At  an  early  period  in  the  history  of  Cincinnati, 
when  its  future  growth  and  prosperity  appeared 
to  be  fully  established,  the  need  of  a  regular  sup- 
ply of  water  was  seen  to  be  necessary,  not  only 
for  family  purposes,  but  for  supplying  the  wants 
of  manufacturing  establishments,  which  were  be- 
ginning to  be  requisite  for  the  supply  (especially) 
of  those  heavy  fabrics,  the  transportation  of  which 
from  the  seaboard  imposed  taxes  too  heavy  to  be 
borne   by  the   early  emigrants  to   our   Western 
towns  and  farms.     This  want,  a  most  energetic 
and  accomplished  man  of  business,  Col.   Samuel 
W.  Davies,  undertook  to  supply.     He  raised  a  sub- 
stantial building  of  stone  and  brick,  at  low  water 
mark  of  the  river,  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
lifting  and  forcing   pumps,  necessary  to  convey 
the  water  of  the  river  to  a  reservoir,  on  a  hill  im- 
mediately north  of  the  building.     This  reservoir 
was  about    three  hundred  feet  above  low  water 
mark,  and  was  near  the  eastern  boundary  of  the 
citv,  and  higher  than  its  highest  levels.     He  laid 
wooden  pipes  for  carrying  the  water  through  the 
principal  streets  of  the  city,  but  its  rapid  increase 
soon  showed  that  such  pipes  were  insufficient  to 
supply  even  a  small  portion  of  its  requirements. 
The  growth  and  extension  of  the  city  being  chief- 
ly to  the  westward,  iron  pipes,  and  those  of  larger 
calibre  than  would  have  been  necessary,  had  the 
growth  of  the  city  been  upwards  on  the  river,  as 
had  ever  been  the  course  of  our  river  towns,  were 
needed. 


CINCINNATI.  175 

Col.  Davies,  when  he  had  devoted  all  his  means 
— his  capital  and  credit — to  the  work,  found  that 
he  had  but  made  a  commencement,  and  there  was  a 
necessity  for  a  much  larger  amount  of  capital  than 
any  individual  in  the  West,  at  that  time,  could 
furnish.  He,  therefore,  proposed  to  put  the  works 
into  the  hands  of  a  joint  stock  company,  and  ob- 
tained a  charter  for  the  formation  of  such  a  com- 
pany, which  he  endeavored,  with  his  characteristic 
energy,  to  organize.  lie  found,  however,  the  vis 
inertia  of  the  citizens  in  regard  to  public  improve- 
ments, proportionate  to  their  efforts  for  the  in- 
crease of  their  individual  fortunes.  As  in  the 
case  of  the  canal  stock,  there  was  found  a  sufficient 
number  of  citizens  who  considered  it  a  public  duty 
of  others  to  carry  out  Col.  Davies'  undertaking, 
which  was  the  extent  of  their  public  spirit  in  this 
case.  The  prevalence  of  this  opinion,  however, 
did  not  produce  the  desired  practical  result,  and 
the  plan  was  on  the  point  of  being  abandoned  for 
the  want  of  funds.  Under  these  circumstances 
the  following  named  gentlemen  undertook  to  unite 
with  Col.  Davies,  and  carry  on  the  works;  these 
were  Davis  B.  Lawler,  Wm.  Greene,  Samuel  E. 
and  J.  P.  Foote,  and  X.  A.  Ware,  who,  however, 
soon  sold  his  share  in  the  establishment  to  George 
Graham  and  Wm.  S.  Johnston.  These  gentlemen 
constituted  the  "Cincinnati  Water  Company." 
Samuel  E.  Foote  was  appointed  its  secretary,  and 
served  in  that  office  during  its  existence,  without 
compensation.     In  this  office  he  brought  into  ex- 


176  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

ercise  that  knowledge  and  capacity  for  business 
by  which  he  was  always  distinguished.  All  his 
accounts  and  plans  are  models  of  correctness  and 
adaptation  to  the  interest  of  the  institution.  The 
company  made  extensive  improvements,  substitut- 
ing iron  for  wooden  pipes,  in  those  streets  that  re- 
quired the  largest  mains,  establishing  improved 
pumps,  enlarging  the  reservoirs,  and  generally 
adapting  the  progress  of  the  works  to  that  of  the 
city.  They,  however,  became  weary  of  well  doing 
in  the  cause  of  the  public,  for  which  their  returns 
in  money  were  not  enough,  and  in  reproaches  and 
abuse  for  demanding  payment  of  water  rents, 
too  much,  for  the  comfort  of  their  lives.  They, 
therefore,  made  an  offer  of  the  establishment  to 
the  city,  for  a  sum  which — judging  from  the  cost 
of  subsequent  improvements — was  less  than  half 
what  it  would  have  cost  to  begin  and  carry  for- 
ward the  works  to  the  state  in  which  they  then 
were.  The  offer  was  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the 
citizens,  and  accepted,  though  similar,  and,  per- 
haps, more  favorable  offers  had  been  previously 
rejected.  The  water  rents  have  been  increased  50 
to  100  per  cent,  since  the  sale,  but  they  are,  per- 
haps, not  now  too  high,  though  as  long  as  they 
were  much  lower,  and  collected  by  a  private  com- 
pany, they  were  intolerably  oppressive. 

The  elegant  mansion,  built  by  Mr.  Foote,  on  the 
corner  of  Yine  and  Third  streets,  was  for  many 
years,  and  until  the  fatal  commercial  crisis  of  1837, 
the  seat  of  a  liberal  hospitality,  where  the  visits 


(  INC  INN  ATI.  1 


.  ■ 


of  relatives  and  friends  formed  a  prominent   por- 
tion of  the  enjoyments  of  social  life. 

Those  pleasant  reunions,  established  under  the 
title  of  the  Semi-Colon  club,  held  their  sessions 
there,  and  alternately  at  the  adjoining  residences 
of  Charles  Stetson  and  William  Greene.  At  these 
meetings,  a  number  of  persons  of  both  sexes,  of 
the  highest  order  of  intellect  and  cultivation,  as- 
sembled for  the  enjoyment  of  evenings  of  social 
relaxation,  and  rational  amusement.  Their  mode 
of  proceeding  was  to  read  such  literary  contribu- 
tions as  were  sent  in  for  the  purpose,  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  club,  after  which  such  discussions  en- 
sued as  might  be  elicited  by  what  had  been  read, 
or  by  any  other  literary-  matter  of  interest  at  the 
time:  music,  sometimes  alternated  with  readings 
and  discussions,  generally  closed  the  sessions. 

Among  the  founders  of  the  club  were  the  Rev. 
B.  B.  Hall  and  his  highly  accomplished  lady,  who 
had  jointly  and  severally  contributed  valuable  aid 
to  the  educational  literature  of  our  time,  and  also 
Judge  Timothy  Walker,  whose  contributions  to 
educational,  mathematical  and  legal  science,  con- 
trasted strongly  with  his  humorous  contributions 
to  the  literature  of  the  club.  His  death,  in  the 
prime  of  a  most  useful  and  laborious  life,  disap- 
pointed high  hopes  of  future  usefulness,  and  was 
considered,  like  that  of  James  H.  Perkins,  a  few 
years  afterward,  a  public  calamity.  Nathan 
Guilford,  also  the  distinguished  advocate  of  popu- 


178  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    POOTE. 

lar  education,  whose  exertions  in  the  cause  of  the 
public  school  system  obtained  for  him  the  desig- 
nation of  the  father  of  that  system.  Other  con- 
tributors included  names  of  high  eminence,  among 
them  Harriet  Beecher,  afterward  Stowe,  whose 
papers  have  since  been  published  in  a  volume  en- 
titled "The  May  Flower,"  and  dedicated  to  the  club. 
Judge  James  Hall,  whose  reputation  was  already 
established,  as  an  author  of  high  and  varied  talents. 
His  articles  were  published  in  the  magazine,  of 
which  he  was  at  that  time  the  editor.  Miss  Cath- 
arine Beecher,  whose  fame  and  literary  works 
have  been  widely  disseminated  before  and  since, 
some  of  whose  contributions  to  the  Semi-Colons 
have  been  published  in  annuals  and  magazines. 
Professor  Hentz,  an  accomplished  naturalist,  and 
his  wife,  Mrs.  Caroline  Lee  Hentz,  who  became 
a  very  popular  novelist :  Kev.  Professor  Stowe, 
already  celebrated  as  one  of  the  most  learned 
scholars  of  our  country ;  E.  P.  Crancii  and  U.  T. 
Howe,  some  of  whose  very  amusing  articles  were 
published  in  a  newspaper  which  they  conducted, 
but  the  best  and  wittiest  of  which  are  still  inedit- 
ed :  some  of  them  had  their  attractions  increased 
by  exquisitely  humorous  illustrations  from  the 
pencil  of  the  former;  Professor  0.  M.  Mitchel. 
now  of  world-wide  celebrity  as  an  astronomer; 
Charles  W.  Elliott,  historian  of  Sew  England, 
and  author  of  various  other  works  of  merit ;  Dr. 
Daniel  Drake,  of  extensive  and  established  fame 
as  a  medical  author  and  professor:  Ben.t.  Drake, 


CINCINNATI.  179 

his  brother,  author  of*  the  lives  of  Tccumseh  and 
Black  Hawk,  and  other  works,  mostly  on  Western 
statistics  and  history;  E.  I).  Mansfield,  his  asso- 
ciate in  his  statistical  works,  and  author  of  many 
biographical  and  other  works  of  great  merit; 
Professor  James  W.  Ward,  poet  and  naturalist  of 
tine  and  varied  talents  ;  Davis  B.  Laavler.  James 
F.  Meline,  Judge  Charles  P.  James.  Br.  Wol- 
cott  Richards,  D.  Thew  Wright,  Joseph  Long- 
worth.  J.  Newton  Perkins,  Edward  Xing.  Charles 
Stetson,  T.  I).  Lincoln,  Wm.  P.  Steele,  George  C. 
Davies.  and  some  other  gentlemen  whose  contri- 
butions are  still  in  manuscript.  James  II.  Perkins, 
whose  extraordinary  and  versatile^talcnts  were  as 
much  admired  as  their  possessor  was  beloved,  and 
whose  untimely  death  shed  a  gloom  over  the  city 
— over  the  poor  to  whom  lie  was  a  missionary, 
carrying  in  his  visits  temporal  relief  and  spiritual 
instruction — as  well  as  over  an  admiring  and  ex- 
tensive circle  of  friends  in  the  highest  classes  of 
society;  Wm.  Greene,  eminent  as  a  political 
writer,  and  expositor  of  the  principles  of  our 
Constitution;  Charles  I>.  Drake  and  C.  B.  Brush, 
whose  poetical  contributions  graced  some  of  the 
periodicals  of  the  period;  three  Misses  Black- 
well,  two  of  whom  have  since  become  eminent 
M.  D's.,  and  all  of  them  valuable  contributors  to 
the  literature  and  science  of  the  age,  three  other 
ladies,  whose  names  have  since  been  changed,  with 
others  distinguished  for  intellectual  qualities,  con- 
stituted   a   literary  galaxy  which   could  scarcely 


180  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.  FOOTE. 

have  been  equalled  at  that  time  in  any  city  of  our 
country.  The  cultivation  of  musical  taste  and 
talent  has  always  been  a  prominent  portion  of 
female  education  in  Cincinnati.  From  the  earliest 
period  of  its  history  this  has  been  remarked  by 
travelers  and  visitors,  and  among  the  Semi-Colon 
ladies,  it  was  a  matter  of  course  that  there  should 
be  those  whose  excellence  in  that  department  was 
equal  to  that  of  the  best  of  the  literary  contribu- 
tors. 

These  reunions  began  and  terminated  at  early 
hours,  and  expensive  luxuries  in  food  and  drink  be- 
ing rigidly  prohibited,  the  health  of  the  members 
was  not  endangered,  (nor  the  reputation  of  their 
neighbors)  ; — intellectual  food  of  a  quality  superior 
to  any  thing  afforded  by  the  highest  style  of  cook- 
ery, and  more  wholesome  than  personal  gossip,  not 
only  for  the  mind,  but  for  the  body  also,  being 
served  up.  Visitors  of  congenial  minds  and  tal- 
ents were  frequent  guests,  the  members  of  the  club 
having  the  privilege  of  inviting  friends  to  accom- 
pany them  to  the  meetings.  Among  those  visitors 
who  gave  and  received  much  gratification  by  their 
attendance.  Hoffman,  the  highly  gifted  and  unfor- 
tunate, is  remembered  as  one  whose  company  was 
peculiarly  pleasing,  who  gave  no  reason  from  any 
peculiarity  in  his  actions  or  conversation  to  appre- 
hend the  approach  of  the  melancholy  calamity 
that  afterwards  destroyed  the  early  promise  of  a 
mind  of  talents,  and  of  accomplishments  of  the 
highest,   order,    and   overwhelmed   one   who  had 


CINCINNATI.  181 

given  testimony  of  his  desire,  and  power  to  aid  in 
the  elevation  of  the  literary  reputation  of  his 
country,  with  the  heaviest  of  human  calamities. 
Other  visitors  of  varied  talents  and  accomplish- 
ments were  occasional  guests,  and  added  to  the 
amusement  and  instruction  derived  from  such 
meetings. 

Sumptuary  laws,  it  was  well  understood,  could 
not  be  enforced  by  private  associations  any  better 
than  by  governments  and  lawgivers  :  it  was,  how- 
ever, understood  to  be  one  of  the  principles  of  the 
club  to  discountenance  extravagance  in  dress,  and 
luxury  in  entertainments,  both  by  example,  and 
by  avoiding  discussions  in  which  thev  might  form 
a  prominent  subject. 

In  one  of  the  papers,  giving  an  account  of  the 
objects  and  intents  of  the  institution,  it  is  stated 
that  ';  semi-colonism  acts  upon  the  public  welfare, 
by  increasing  the  amount  of  the  private  and  do- 
mestic virtues,  by  extending  the  influences  of 
kindly  feelings,  and  the  intercourse  of  friendship, 
and  of  the  knowledge  that  public  prosperity  is 
better  promoted  by  the  exercise  of  private  virtues 
than  by  acts  grounded  on  maxims  of  political  ex- 
pediency.'' These  remarks  were  contained  in  an 
article  written  to  prove,  among  other  equally  im- 
portant matters  which  seemed  to  call  for  proof, 
that  c- list-lighting  in  the  Halls  of  Congress,  and 
jneetings  by  its  members  at  IJladensburgh,  to  com- 
mit murder — which  at  that  time  constituted  a  dis- 
tinguishing portion  of  Congressional  proceedings 

in 


182  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

— were  not  essential  to  the  public  welfare,  and  that 
members  of  Congress  were  not  necessarily  requir- 
ed to  be  bullies  and  brawlers  in  order  to  be  quali- 
fied for  the  duties  of  their  stations."  These  ariru- 
ments  were  perfectly  convincing — being  addressed 
to  those  who  were  already  of  the  same  opinion, 
like  political  speeches  to  partizan  assemblages — 
but  unfortunately  the  club  neglected  to  send  mis- 
sionaries  into  "the  District,"  to  propagate  their 
doctrines,  and  in  consequence  the  heathenish  dark- 
ness which  prevailed  in  that  benighted  region,  at 
that  period,  still  reigns  there  with  scarcely  dimin- 
ished gloom.  "Murder"  has  been  "one  of  the 
fine  arts ':  of  the  late  Congress,  applauded  and 
approved  as  well  when  an  Irish  waiter  was  its  sub- 
ject, as  when  an  adulterer  in  high  life  gave  it  more 
eclat.  The  influence  of  the  club,  though  lost  to 
the  nation's  representatives,  was  not  equally  un- 
profitable to  the  morals  and  manners  of  the  higher 
classes  of  society  in  Cincinnati.  For  from  thai 
period  to  the  present,  there  has  not  been,  in  those 
classes,  any  examples  of  murders,  duels,  breaking 
the  heads  of  gentlemen  while  sitting  quietly  at 
their  desks,  nor  any  of  the  other  Congressional 
proceedings  of  that  kind,  by  which  members  occa- 
sionally exhibit  their  talents  and  fitness  for  the 
office  of  legislators  for  a  free  j)eople,  whose  free  in- 
stitutions can  only  be  preserved  by  virtuous  prin- 
ciples. Had  the  club  sent  missionaries  to  "the 
District"  at  the  proj^er  period,  and  had  they  ex- 
ercised their  functions  in  a  Christian  spirit,  it  is 


CINCINNATI.  183 

probable  that  a  commencement  of  civilization 
might  have  been  made  in  that  semi-civilized 
region — some  lives  might  have  been  saved,  and 
some  characters — among  them  that  of  our  country 
— been  preserved  from  many  of  the  foul  stains 
that  grieve  the  hearts  of  the  good,  and  give  cour- 
age to  the  vile,  by  lowering  those  to  whom  they 
ought  to  look  for  good  examples,  to  their  own 
level. 

The  club  continued  in  existence  many  years, 
and  until  the  fearful  commercial  catastrophe  of 
1837  swept  like  a  flood  over  the  country,  and  occa- 
sioned a  domestic  revolution  proportionate  in  its 
effects  to  those  crises,  as  they  are  styled,  which, 
since  1780,  (and  before,)  have  been  historical 
events  in  the  annals  of  commerce,  both  in  Europe 
and  America.  The  losses  and  misfortunes  inflicted 
upon  individuals  and  families  at  that  period,  were 
no  inspectors  of  persons,  like  hurricanes,  earth- 
quakes, and  conquerors,  they  carried  desolation 
very  impartially  to  all  in  their  course,  especially 
to  all  commercial  cities.  The  banks  failed,  and 
individuals  were  compelled  to  follow  their  ex- 
ample. 

Although  Mr.  Foote  was  not  concerned  in  any 
business  excerpt  that  of  the  Water  Company,  he 
had  lent  his  name  so  freely  to  his  friends,  that  he 
thought  it  incumbent  on  him  to  make  important 
changes  in  his  manner  of  life.  He  sold  his  ele- 
gant mansion  with  its  adjoining  buildings,  (one- 
third  of  the  price  of  which  would  have  paid  all 


184  '  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

his  own  debts. )  gave  mortgages  on  the  other  por- 
tion of  his  real  estate,  to  cover  all  his  liabilities, 
and  directed  his  attention  to  the  object  of  dis- 
charging them  as  soon  as  possible.  The  banks 
granted  him  all  the  indulgence  he  asked,  and  he 
directed  his  attention  to  the  sale  of  property  for 
this  purpose.  After  the  sale  of  the  Water  Com- 
pany property,  he  accepted  the  office  of  Secretary 
to  the  Whitewater  Canal  Company,  and  afterward 
the  same  office  in  the  Ohio  Life  Insurance  &  Trust 
Company,  which  office  he  held  until  he  had  so 
regulated  his  affairs  as  to  be  free  from  all  liabili- 
ties, and  in  the  enjoyment  of  an  income  equal  to 
his  desires.  lie  then  resigned  his  office,  and  de- 
termined to  return  to  his  native  State,  and  pass 
the  residue  of  his  life  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
scenes  of  his  boyhood,  and  among  his  early  asso- 
ciates, of  whom  a  large  portion  still  remained 
there;    some  had  emigrated,  but  few  had  died. 

One  of  the  reasons  assigned  by  him  for  his  de- 
sire to  remove  from  Cincinnati,  was  his  disagree- 
ment in  the  opinion  which  he  thought  too  preva- 
lent in  the  West  generally,  and  in  this  city  par- 
ticularly, of  the  superiority  of  the  rights  of  chil- 
dren to  those  of  parents.  He  did  not  object  spe- 
cially to  the  modern  doctrine  of  the  rights  of  women, 
if  carried  into  effect  consistently  with  other  rights. 
and  desired  to  have  them  recognized  and  increased 
as  far  as  reasonable  and  proper.  But  he  thought 
that  men  ought  to  possess  some  rights,  and  especially 
thatof  directing  the  education  of  their  children,  and 


CINCINNATI.  18.") 

keeping  them  under  suitable  restraints  during  its 
progress.  In  Connecticut  the  old  English  system 
of  keeping  children  in  a  state  of  slavish  submis- 
sion to  their  parents,  had  been  sufficiently  relaxed : 
in  the  West  it  seemed  to  have  been  reversed,  from 
an  idea  often  acted  upon,  that  the  reverse  of  anv 
wrong  is  right.  In  New  Haven,  the  institutions 
for  the  education  of  youth  of  both  sexes  were 
of  the  highest  class,  having  received  as  many 
of  the  modern  improvements  as  sound  judgment 
and  discretion  could  approve.  In  addition  to  the 
long  established  seminaries,  a  semi-military  school 
for  boys  had  been  founded  under  the  direction  of 
competent  teachers,  and  in  which  the  discipline 
bore  a  softened  resemblance  to  that  of  West  Point, 
as  well  as  the  modes  and  themes  of  instruction. 
Mr.  Foote  approved  of  this  system,  and  the  educa- 
tion of  his  son  was  commenced  under  it. 

In  addition  to  the  educational  advantages  of 
New  Haven,  he  believed  that  the  climate  of  New 
Kngland  would  be  found  more  salutary  to  his  fam- 
ily than  that  of  Cincinnati,  there  being  no  con- 
sumptive tendencies  in  any  member  of  it. 

He  purchased  a  beautiful  situation  on  "Whitney 
avenue,  of  about  twenty  acres,  formerly  the  pro- 
perty of  General  David  Humphreys,  of  revolu- 
tionary and  poetic  fame  ;  afterward  purchased  by 
a  Scotch  gentleman  from  the  South,  who  improved 
it  considerably,  and  gave  it  the  Scottish  name  of 
'•  Windy  Knowe, ' '  which  was  found  to  be  sufficiently 
characteristic.  But  the  keen  sharp  winds  of  Xew 
16* 


186  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

England  were  found  too  severe  for  a  constitution 
adapted  to  a  southern  climate,  and  Mr.  Campbell, 
the  proprietor,  was  obliged  to  abandon  it.  Mr. 
Foote  immediately  on  taking  possession  began  that 
system  of  improvements  in  ornamental  horticul- 
ture, which  caused  it  to  be  reckoned  among  the 
most  beautiful  suburban  villas  in  that  city  of  beau- 
tiful villas.  He  also  commenced  that  system  of 
agricultural  experiments  which  he  supposed  might 
be  made  useful  to  the  farmers  of  that  region,  some 
results  of  which  will  be  found  in  extracts  from  his 
letters  in  another  chapter. 


HORTICULTURE  AND  AGRICULTURE.  187 


CHAPTER    XII. 

HORTICULTURE  AND  AGRICULTURE. 


And  tby  sea-marge  steril  and  rocky  Lard. 

My  bosky  acres  and  my  unskrubb'd  down, 
Rich  scarf  to  my  proud  earth." — Shakf.spi:are. 


During  his  residence  at  Xew  Haven,  Mr.  Foote 
was  distinguished,  as  he  had  ever  been,. by  an  ex- 
tensive and  liberal  hospitality.  This  virtue  was 
with  him  the  cultivation  and  display  of  a  strongly 
developed  native  taste,  which  his  extensive  knowl- 
edge and  genial  nature,  combined  with  a  peculiar 
vein  of  quiet  humor,  rendered  exceedingly  attrac- 
tive to  his  associates.  It  was  also  in  connection 
with  his  horticultural  and  agricultural  operations 
and  experiments,  a  means  of  supplying  that  need 
of  excitement  which  is  generally  felt  by  persons 
who  have  retired  from  active  business,  for  the  en- 
joyment of  that  ease  to  which  they  look  forward 
during  their  period  of  anxious  toil  and  restless 
activity.  The  promises  of  increased  happiness  in 
retirement  they,  however,  generally  find  as  delu- 
sive as  they  have  often  found  "promises  to  pay' 
in  the  course  of  their  business. 


1^  MEMOIR    OF     SAMUEL    E.    FOOTF. 

The  disappointments  so  common  in  such  cases 
are  generally  caused  by  a  neglect  to  educate  the 
mind  and  heart  in  the  love  and  true  appreciation 
of  the  beautiful  in  nature,  and  the  cultivation  of 
good  taste,  which  is  its  fruit.  The  success  of  this 
cultivation  is  as  soon  and  as  strikingly  manifested 
in  the  improvement  and  adorning  of  garden  and 
park  grounds,  as  in  any  mode  of  its  display. 
"  Windy  Knowe"  was  a  specimen,  not  only  of  good 
taste  in  that  portion  of  the  grounds  devoted  to 
horticultural  and  floral  embellishments,  but  of  suc- 
cess in  demonstrating  the  power  of  scientific  agri- 
culture over  soils  apparently  almost  barren,  and 
as  farming  land  considered  nearly  worthless. 

The  ungenial  climate  of  New  England  can  not 
be  changed  by  any  amount  of  scientific  skill,  but 
the  products  which  can  endure  that  climate,  and 
flourish  under  its  influences,  may  be  made  as  re- 
munerative to  the  farmer  as  those  of  more  favored 
climates,  if  the  necessary  knowledge  be  obtained 
in  regard  to  their  cultivation,  and  only  those 
which  are  well  adapted  to  soil  and  climate  be  cul- 
tivated. In  a  letter  giving  an  account  of  his  suc- 
cess in  his  agricultural  experiments,  Foote  says : 
"I  have  just  dug  253  bushels  of  potatoes,  from 
five-sixths  of  an  acre  of  ground,  and  shall  have  80 
bushels  of  corn  from  an  acre,  and  800  bushels  of 
carrots  from  three-fifths  of  an  acre,  and  that  is  as 
well  as  you  can  do  in  Ohio  with  only  common  cul- 
tivation.'' 


HOTICULTURE  AND  AGRICULTURE.      189 

His  experiments  in  this  department  were  not 
made  with  any  view  of  profit  to  himself,  but  were 
undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  exhibiting  the  ad- 
vantages of  an  improved  system  of  agriculture  to 
the  farmers  of  New  England,  the  need  of  which 
the  recollections  of  his  earhr  youth,  when  he  was 
one  of  them,  was  deeply  felt.  And  this  he  con- 
sidered one  of  the  methods  of  paying  the  debt 
due  to  society  from  all  its  members.  The  other 
methods  of  paying  this  debt-  by  contributions  to 
useful  public  institutions,  he  did  not  neglect,  nor 
did  he  ever  seem  to  consider,  (as  some  appear  to 
do.)  that,  as  a  member  of  the  community,  he  was 
entitled  to  receive  as  much  as  he  was  required  to 

pay- 

The  following  extracts  from  his  letters  during 
this  period,  are  characteristic,  and  show  that  the 
genial,  pleasant  humor,  which  made  him  so  delight- 
ful a  companion,  was  not  confined  to  his  social 
conversation.  His  letters  abound  with  the  same 
light  and  easy  humor,  intermingled  occasionally 
with  paradoxes  similar  to  those  which  he  liked  to 
propound  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  discussion. 
It  is  a  matter  of  regret,  that  many  of  his  most  in- 
teresting and  characteristic  letters  have  been  lost. 
None  of  them  were  written  like  Horace  AYalpole's, 
Pope's,  Swift's,  and  other  eminent  authors,  for 
publication,  or  with  any  idea  that  they  would  ever 
be  seen  except  by  the  friends  for  whom  they  were 
intended.  In  consequence,  all  his  characteristic 
traits  contained  in  them,  are  so  mixed  with  private 


190  MEMOIR  OF  SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

individual  circumstances,  that  only  short  extracts 
can  be  given  from  any  of  them. 

In  reply  to  a  letter  from  his  intimate  friend,  Dr. 
IJumscy,  containing  complaints  of  the  various  dis- 
asters in  his  pomological  labors,  and  his  agricul- 
tural experiments,  he  says:  "Of  course  the  leaves 
fall  off  the  pear  trees,  and  the  fire-blight  kills 
them,  and  the  pears  crack;  and  the  peach  trees 
have  the  yellows,  and  the  cherry  trees  burst  the 
bark,  and  the  plums  are  all  stung  by  the  curculio. 
The  apples  are  all  stung  by  insects,  and  the  trees 
killed  by  the  borer.  The  wheat  is  eaten  by  the 
weavel,  and  the  corn  is  killed  by  the  frost,  the 
potatoes  rot,  and  the  carrots  have  the  August 
blight,  and  the  bagworms  cover  the  forest  trees, 
and  the  melons  have  no  sweetness,  the  raspberries 
shrivel  up,  and  the  gooseberries  mildew,  the  red 
spider  kills  all  the  flowering  plants,  and  the  green 
fly  eats  up  the  roses,  and  the  mealy  bug  covers 
every  green  thing.  I  might  go  on  all  the  morning 
with  the  pests  we  farmers  are  subject  to,  and  yet 
farming  is  considered  such  a.  very  safe  business. 
and  a  farmer's  life  exempt  from  care  and  anxiety. 
Why  the  anxiety  a  farmer  has  on  the  subject  of 
rain  or  no  rain,  is  greater  than  that  of  the  mer- 
chant* or  mariner,  or  Wall  street  stock  broker,  in 
all  their  operations." 


•:=  He  seems  to  have  forgotten  the  anxieties  complained  of  in  his  letters 
from  Buenos  Ayres  and  Lima,  or  rather,  this  may  be  considered  one  of  the 
paradoxes  he  took  delight  in. 


HORTICULTURE  AND  AGRICULTURE.      191 

His  hospitable  feelings  were  in  constant  opera- 
tion, and  nothing  was  so  gratifying  to  him  as  to 
have  his  house  filled,  and  his  table  surrounded 
with  friendly  faces.  Invitations  to  his  friends 
were  frequent  in  his  peculiar  vein  of  pleasantry. 
of  which  the  following  are  examples  : 

"Are  vou  aware  that  there  are  in  this  region 
vast  numbers  of  clams,  lobsters,  blackfish,  ami 
oysters?  which  are  all  living  in  the  highest  state 
of  surprise  and  wonderment,  that  you  do  not  come 
on,  and  brighten  the  chain  of  friendship  that 
formerly  bound  you  together  in  such  loving  inti- 
macy: ana  the  more  especially  that  your  unhappy 
fresh  water  country  appears  to  be  now  threatened 
with  another  visitation  of  cholera,  the  just  pun- 
ishment of  those  foolish  and  reckless  persons  who 
hew  out  to  themselves  cisterns  which  will  hold  no 
salt  water.  I  wish  vou  would  take  the  matter  into 
your  serious  consideration,  and  let  there  be  an 
•effectual  calling'  upon  you  to  visit  the  home  of  your 
fathers,  and  sit  down  upon  the  clam  banks,  and 
feed  from  the  lobster  pots  that  gave  them  strength 
in  the  day  of  trouble,  to  extirpate  the  savage  from 
this  land,  and  drive  back  the  civilized  invader  of 
their  liberties.''  *  *  "  You  Western  people  put 
off  coming  to  the  sea  shore  too  long;  I  wish  you 
and  M.  were  here  now,  for  the  country  is  exceed- 
ingly beautiful  in  the  spring,  when  every  thing  is 
bursting  out  fresh  and  green,  and  our  sweet-fern 
and  bay-berry,  and  sweet-briar,  and  honey-suckle 
are  so  very  fragrant,  and  seem  so  healthful,  and 


192  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL     E.    FOOTE. 

we  have  so  many  beautiful  flowers,  too.  and  the 
birds  sing  so  sweetly,  that  it  seems  strange  a  sensi- 
ble man  can  waste  his  life  on  Pacific  railroads,  and 
public  improvements,  and  all  the  modern  contriv- 
ances for  destroying  the  happiness,  and  shorten- 
ing the  lives  of  the  poor  dupes,  who  are  running 
from  one  end  of  the  earth  to  the  other,  with  as 
little  purpose  as  a  kitten  runs  after  its  own  tail." 

On  the  following  spring  he  writes  in  a  different 
vein.  *  *  *  "  AVe  have  had  such  a  Ion & 
dreary,  rain  storm,  that  we  are  all  in  the  dumps : 
our  spring  is  entirely  behind  the  age:  trees  have 
scarcely  begun  to  show  that  they  intend  to  have 
any  leaves,  and  there  is  not  a  blossom  in  the  fields. 

*  *  *  We  begin  to  have  a  faint  hope  that 
gooseberries  may  ripen  between  this  and  October  ; 
luckily  I  pulled  up  all  my  peach  trees  last  fall, 
and  thereby  saved  them  from  being  winter  killed. 
I  do  not  perceive  that  the  cold  winter  and  late 
spring  have  had  any  material  effect  upon  the  trap 
rock  in  our  vicinity,  but  I  know  of  nothing  else 
that  has  escaped  injury.  I  have  not  yet  planted 
my  corn,  and  the  crows  and  blackbirds  who  were 
waiting  to  pull  it  up,  have  got  tired,  and  gone  oft' 
to  some  more  genial  climate.  *  *  *  I  have 
not  seen  K.  since  she  came  on,  but  understand  that 
she  is  getting  on  as  comfortably  as  can  be  expect- 
ed at  a  watering  place,  where  every  possible  in- 
convenience is  condensed,  and  you  are  in  the  focus. 
The  moral  and  physical  energy  required  to  con- 
tend against  the  inherent  evils  of  hotel  life,  give 


HORTICULTURE  AND  AGRICULTURE.  193 

a  stimulus  to  the  system  which  I  suppose  is  bene- 
ficial, but  like  sea-bathing  in  winter,  requires  more 
resolution  than  I  can  command."  *  *  *  * 
"  We  have  at  last  a  few  days  of  real  spring  weather, 
and  are  beginning  to  hope  that  the  angels  have 
not  been  skewing  the  world  out  of  its  proper 
sphere,  as  Milton  says  they  did  after  the  Tall.' 
Since  the  Dred  Scott  decision  of  Judge  Taney,  I 
have  had  my  fears  that  it  might  be  considered  as 
a  kind  of  second  'Fall,'  and  that  these  same  angels 
might  have  been  tampering  with  the  world's  axis 
again.  *  *  But  I  am  beginning  to  recover  my 
confidence  in  the  stability  of  the  present  arrange- 
ment of  the  seasons   and   climates  of  the  world. 

*  *  *  In  short,  every  thing  in  nature  seems 
to  intend  to  go  on  in  the  old  way,  just  as  if  Judge 
Taney  had  never  made  the  astonishing  discovery 
that  men  of  African  descent  have  no  rights  which 
white  men  are  bound  to  respect." 

The  cold  winter  of  '55-56  is  alluded  to  in  the 
following  extract,  Gth  February:  "It  is  now  ten 
o'clock  A.  M..  with  a  very  bright  sunshine,  and  the 
thermometer  in  my  back  porch  stands  at  2°  below 
zero,  and  I  suppose  the  mercury  would  go  much 
lower  if  it  were  not  afraid  of  freezing.  We  are 
satisfied  with  it,  however,  as  long  as  the  sunshines 
so  brightly.  If  it  were  cloudy,  we  would  not 
mind  letting  it  go  down  as  low  as  20°  below,  which 
we  think  is  as  far  as  any  respectable  thermom- 
eter would  wish  to  go.  7th.  The  thermometer  was 
so  pertinacious  in  its  determination  to  go  steadilv 
17 


194  MEMOIR   OF    SAMUEL    E.    POOTE. 

downward  during  the  whole  day,  yesterday,  not- 
withstanding the  brightest  kind  of  sunshine,  that 

I  thought  I  would  wait  and  see  where  it  would  go 
to;  at  sun  down  it  was  12°  below  zero,  at  sun  rise 
this  morning  it  was  15°  below,  where  it  was  during 
night  I  do  n't  know."  *  *  "  We  have  not  mad© 
up  our  minds  whether  we  shall  starve  or  not,  after 
eating  our  cows  and  chickens.  We  all  feel  so 
dreadfully  sorry  for  poor  old  Buchanan,  who  ha* 
got  himself  into  such  a  tight  place,  (or  rather  ha* 
been  driven  into  it  by  his  Southern  masters,)  that 
we  have  little  appetite,  and  therefore  our  stock  may 
last  longer  than  we  feared,  and  especially  so  if  w* 
should  be  obliged  to  swallow  Eobert  J.  Walker, 
and  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  with  our  cows  and  chick- 
ens, as  I  fear  we  shall  have  to  do."  March  6.     *    * 

II  You  ought  to  have  been  here  this  winter— it  has 
been  such  a  real  old  fashioned  one — eight  weeks 
of  fine  sleighing — thermometer  below  zero — trees 
all  broke  down  by  ice  and  sleet — people  all  starr- 
ing with  cold  and  hunger — horses  all  ruined  by 
overdriving — next  year's  fruit  all  destroyed  in  the 
bud — Kansas  proclamations  by  Pierce — Southern 
domination  established — dough -faces  bought  and 
sold — every  thing  in  a  nice  way  expects  to  b* 
nicer." 

"You  will  have  seen  by  the  papers,  that  \r© 
have  recently  lost  our  two  most  eminent  divine*, 
Dr.  Croswell  and  Dr.  Taylor,  and  I  much  fear  that 
neither  you  nor  I  will  live  to  see  their  place* 
supplied :  for  I  am  satisfied— as  all  other  men  of 


HORTICULTURE  AND  AGRICULTURE.  195 

ripe  ago  since  the  flood  have  been — that  the  world 
and  the  people  that  inhabit  it  are  growing  smaller 
every  day,  and,  if  possible,  more  dishonest.  *  * 
Oar  'Know  Nothing'  brother  is  getting  on  very 
well,  and  I  expect  to  see  him  this  morning  on  his 
way  to  Hartford,  to  resume  his  legislative  duties. 
But  I  am  afraid  that  legislating  is  a  business  that 
does  not  suit  him.  Once  before  when  he  tried  it, 
it  made  him  sick,  and  it  ought  to  have  that  effect 
on  any  one  who  is  accustomed  to  the  honest  sim- 
plicity and  sweet  breath  of  oxen  and  cows.  *  * 
The  world  has  been  so  long  governed  by  men  who 
did  not  know  anything,  and  yet  made  much  pre- 
tension to  superior  wisdom,  that  I  think  it  rather 
a  good  omen  they  are  now  openly  assuming  their 
true  character."  *  *  *  "Some  of  our  old  com- 
panions in  Guilford  have  died  lately.  J.  T.  and 
Krs.  G-.  L.,  both  at  the  early  age  of  sixty-five,  and 
I  should  not  be  surprised  if  the  climate  of  Guil- 
ford, and  the  habits  of  its  people,  should  become 
bo  corrupt,  that  the  average  age  of  the  inhabitants 
should  not  exceed  seventy-five  years." 

The  agricultural  experiments  to  which  we  have 
referred,  were  made  in  pursuance  of  a  resolution 
adopted  in  the  early  portion  of  his  life,  to  devote, 
if  successful  in  his  career,  some  portion  of  his 
time  to  improvements  and  experiments  for  tho 
benefit  of  that  class  of  men  among  whom  the  first 
part  of  his  life  had  been  'passed,  the  farmers  of 
Hew  England.  Their  indifference  to  improved 
systems  of  agriculture,  and  book  farming,  as  it 


196  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

was  styled,  has  since  that  period,  happily,  been 
repented  of  by  the  intelligent  and  industrious 
among  them,  and  the  want  of  neatness :  good  order, 
and  systematic  management  is  not  so  marked  a 
characteristic  of  our  farmers  as  it  was  formerly. 
Good  order  and  good  taste,  he  considered  two  of 
the  cardinal  virtues  in  farming,  which  were  most 
uniformly  neglected,  through  which  neglect  much 
of  the  distaste  of  young  men  for  a  country  life 
devoted  solely  to  agriculture  is  generated.  It  is 
true  that  most  of  those  who  leave  the  farm  for 
more  exciting  and  more  hazardous  pursuits,  gen- 
erally intend  to  return  when  they  become  rich, 
and  to  spend  the  last  years  of  their  lives  in  mak- 
ing agricultural  improvements.  But  of  the  few 
who  are  successful  enough  to  be  able  to  fulfill  their 
intentions,  scarcely  any  can  find  happiness  in  be- 
ing relieved  from  the  excitements  and  cares  which 
they  think  are  sources  of  unhappiness  when  they 
are  obliged  to  suffer  them  in  their  business  opera- 
tions. Haste  to  get  rich,  which  since  the  time  of 
Solomon — and  probably  long  before — has  been  the 
besetting  sin  of  young  men,  and  a  theme  of  warn- 
ing for  old  ones,  generates  tastes  and  habits  which 
prevent  riches  from  yielding  the  happiness  that  is 
expected  from  them.  Fortunately  for  themselves, 
very  few  of  those  hasty  young  men  ever  succeed, 
and  being  obliged  to  struggle  continually,  are 
happier  in  their  struggles  than  they  could  be  in 
the  fulfillment  of  their  hopes  and  wishes. 


HORTICULTURE  AND  AGRICULTURE.  107 

Hope,  if  properly  based  and  directed,  is  the 
healthiest  of  mental  excitements.  It  forms  the  qui- 
et, peaceful  enjoyment  of  the  farmer  in  preparing 
his  grounds,  and  planting  them  for  the  future  har- 
vest, as  well  as  of  the  merchant  in  planning  his 
voyages,  and  sending  forth  his  ventures.  Hope 
deferred,  however,  seems  to  be  a  heavier  burden 
for  Americans  to  bear  than  for  any  other  people, 
an  overweening  anxiety  to  see  the  result  of  what- 
ever they  undertake,  being  one  of  their  strongly 
marked  characteristics.  That  restless  activity 
which  flows  from  it  seems  (especially  to  foreigners 
who  are  frequently  remarking  it  as  one  of  the  de- 
fects of  our  national  character,)  inconsistant  with 
the  true  enjoyment  of  life.  It  has,  however,  had 
a  marked  effect  on  our  history,  and  been  the  stim- 
ulant of  our  rapid  rise  as  a  nation,  from  almost 
insignificance  to  the  highest  rank  among  the 
powers  of  the  world  in  little  more  than  half  a 
century.  A  rapid  extension,  not  only  of  territory, 
but  of  every  kind  of  improvement  demanded  by 
the  progress  of  civilization,  unparalleled  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  is  among  the  consequences. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  one  of  the  results  to  indi- 
viduals is,  that  whenever  their  railroad  rapidity 
in  the  career  they  are  pursuing  is  checked,  they 
become  unhappy,  and  are  very  apt  to  try  to  keep 
up  their  excitements  by  stimulants  which  hasten 
their  progress  to  the  grave. 

The  New  Englanders  who  stay  at  home,  and 
cultivate  their  farms  quietly,  are  generally  very 
17* 


198  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.  FOOTE. 

long  lived.  The  emigrants  from  New  England,  a 
much  larger  class,  are  not  remarkable  for  this 
characteristic.  They,  however,  accomplish  more 
during  a  short  life  than  the  others  in  a  very  long 
one,  and  more  than  the  natives  of  any  other  coun- 
try. This  is  strikingly  manifested  in  our  Western 
States  and  Territories,  where  towns  and  cities  rise 
"like  exhalations,"  and  railroad  locomotives  "shine 
like  meteors,"  and  seem  to  be  chasing  away  the 
original  forests ;  becoming,  with  other  modern  con- 
veniences, regular  institutions  in  those  regions 
settled  by  New  Englanders,  within  periods  so 
short  as  to  be  unexampled  in  the  history  of  human 
improvements.  The  will  of  a  despot,  who  could 
command  the  labors  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
men  to  build  such  cities  as  St.  Petersburgh,  in 
modern  times,  or  the  Egyptian  or  Assyrian  cities 
:  in  remote  periods,  could  raise  up  palaces  and  cot- 
tages with  marvellous  rapidity,  but  could  only  fill 
them  with  masters  and  slaves.*  They  could  not 
build  up  such  cities  as  Cincinnati  and  Chicago, 
and  provide  for  all  their  inhabitants  such  systems 
of  universal  education,  as  would  make  them  all 
understand  their  rights  and  duties.     They  could 


*  Do  Tocqueville  considers  a  (political)  aristocracy  one  of  the  mo3t  effec- 
tive means  of  protecting  the  people  from  the  encroachments  of  the  despot- 
ism to  which  democratic  governments  have  a  natural  tondency.  That  this 
a^true  in  relation  to  democratic  governments  which  are  centralized,  may 
be  believed  from  the  testimony  of  history,  as  well  as  from  personal  observa- 
tion. In  the  United  States,  however,  the  federal  principle  of  a  union  of 
etateB,  with  separate  governments,  gives  us  the  protective  advantages  of  an 
ristocracy  without  its  oppressive  tendencies     But  universal  education  is 


HORTICULTURE  AND  AGRICULTURE.  19i> 

not  substitute  the  ballot  box  for  guards  to  protect 
their  persons,  nor  dispense  with  standing  armies, 
from  a  reliance  on  the  intelligence  and  patriotism 
of  the  people. 


the  only  effective  preservative  of  such  a  federal  union  as  ours.  In  com- 
munities in  which  there  is  an  educated  and  an  ignorant  class  of  population, 
as  in  mo3t  countries,  the  power  of  numbers  is  controlled  by  the  power  of  in- 
tellect, and  a  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  latter  class  that  they  are  oppressed 
by  the  former,  is  very  apt  to  be  felt,  and  generally  with  reason,  for  the  love- 
of  power,  like  the  love  of  money,  grows  with  what  it  feeds  on.  But  freedom 
to  acquire  knowledge  and  wealth  will  always  restrain  a  people  from  violent 
measures  for  the  acquisition  of  objects  desired.  "  The  Union  "  will  be  pre- 
served, if  the  educated  class  in  the  South  aro  sufficiently  numerous  to  retain 
the  ascendancy,  and  the  ignorant  (including  "  fire  eaters  "  and  demogoguea 
of  all  kinds)  kept  in  proper  subjection. 


200  MEMOIR   OP   SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

NEW    HAVEN. 


" whatever  day 

Makes  man  a  slave  takes  half  his  worth  away."— Pops. 


The  opinions  of  tho  citizens  of  New  Haven  on 
the  question  of  negro  slavery,  were  more  nearly 
equally  divided  than  in  almost  any  other  of  the 
towns  of  New  England.  They,  therefore,  suppos- 
ing that  the  stability  of  the  Union  was  endangered 
by  the  intemperate  discussions  which  convulsed 
the  country,  determined  to  invite  two  gentlemen, 
each  holding  opposite  opinions  on  tho  question,  to 
give  their  different  views  on  this  subject  in  public 
lectures. 

On  the  pro-slavery  side  of  tho  question,  Mr. 
Fitzhugh,  of  Virginia,  who  had  written  a  book  to 
show  "The  failure  of  Free  society,"  was  chosen. 
His  opponent  was  Mr.  Wendall  Phillips,  exten- 
sively and  favorably  known  as  an  an ti -slavery 
advocate.  Each  of  these  gentlemen  accepted  Mr. 
Foote's  invitation  to  become  his  guest  at  Windy 
Knowe,  during  his  stay  at  New  Haven.  The 
former  was  a  person  of  pleasing  manners,  and  genial 


NEW    HAVEN.  201 

disposition,  bred  in  that  region  where  the  best 
aspects — the  least  repulsive  features — of  negro 
slavery  are  exhibited,  and  who  evidently  had  full 
faith  in  the  doctrines  he  promulgated.  Mr.  Foote, 
who  held  these  doctrines  to  be  political  and  moral 
heresies,  undertook  to  exhibit  his  arguments  for 
their  refutation  in  the  form  of  facts — facts  which y 
like  figures,  don't  lie — the  inference  from  which 
he  considered  must  be  decidedly  opposite  to  those 
contained  in  Mr.  Fitzhugh's  book,  and  he  enter- 
tained that  respect  for  his  guest  which  gave  him 
confidence  in  the  result  of  their  influence  upon  his 
opinions. 

He  rode  with  him  throughout  all  the  streets  of 
New  Haven,  and  directed  his  attention  to  everv 
thing  in  its  vicinity,  showing  him  that  it  contained 
no  abodes  of  squalid  poverty — that  nearly  every 
dwelling  of  even  the  poorest  of  the  laboring  classes, 
had  a  neat,  comfortable  appearance,  that,  literally, 
no  cases  of  suffering  from  want  of  the  necessaries 
of  life  existed  in  the  city,  and  that  no  poor-tax 
Avas  assessed  on  its  inhabitants.  This  was  exclu- 
sively the  result  of  free  labor,  and  nothing  else, 
for  the  commerce  of  the  city  was  small,  and  had 
declined  (most  of  it  having  been  transferred  to 
New  York,)  with  the  increasing  prosperity  of  the 
community,  the  lands  were  not  naturally  fertile, 
but  required  much  care  and  labor  for  their  culti- 
vation, and  no  government  works  brought  any  of 
the  public  exj^enditures  to  New  Haven.  Attention 
was  especially  called   to  the   beautiful  suburban 


202  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

village  of  Fair  Haven,  established  and  supported 
entirely  upon  the  cultivation  and  traffic  in  oysters 
brought  from  Virginia,  and  planted  in  the  flats  of 
the  Quinnipiac  river,  near  its  mouth.     These  flats 
extend    two   or   throe   miles   upwards,    and    the 
grounds  under  water  in  that  locality  are  subdivid- 
ed among  different  proprietors,  with  the  same  care 
and  attention  to  ownership  as  the  dry  land,  and 
they  yield  as  profitable  crops,  which  supply  the 
interior  towns  with  a  luxury  of  which  the  con- 
sumption is  constantly  increasing.     The  wealth  of 
"Fair  Haven  is  also  continually  on  the  increase,  for 
the  oyster  crops  depend  entirely  on  the  industry 
of  their  cultivators,  they  never  fail   for  want  of 
rain,  or  from  late  frosts,  or  severe  winters. 

Theso  "proofs  and  illustrations"  appeared  to  have 
their  proper  influence  on  the  mind  of  Mr.  Fitz- 
hugh,  and  ho  remarked  that  he  must  modify  his 
opinions  upon  the  subject  of  free  labor.  He  had 
evidently  acquired  some  new  ideas  on  the  subject 
of  the  superior  benefits  of  slavery,  by  his  visit  to 
New  Haven. 

Mr.  Phillips,  whoso  fame  as  a  zealous  anti-slav- 
ery advocate,  was  as  extensive  as  our  country,  was 
also  a  gentleman  in  private  life,  whose  society  was 
peculiarly  pleasing,  and  his  talents,  although  chief- 
ly directed  to  labors  for  the  extension  of  human 
freedom,  were  such  as  would  command  respect  and 
fame  in  other  departments.  He  possessed  the  ad- 
vantage of  a  more  extensive  popularity  than  his 
opponent  in  New  England,  though  the  minority 


NEW    HAVEN.  203 

that  adopted  the  views  of  that  gentleman,  wsw 
very  largo  in  Connecticut,  for  in  that  State  the  re- 
pulsive features  of  negro  slavery  had  never  been 
•exhibited,  and  it  was  one  of  the  States  of  the  North 
where  it  lingered  so  long  that  it  may  be  said  to 
•have  there  died  a  natural  death. 

The  result  of  the  public  discussions  was  similar 
io  that  which  usually  follows  such  discussions,  on 
any  controverted  subject  of  deep  interest; — like 
that,  for  instance,  between  Robert  Owen  and  Al- 
exander Campbell,  on  the  social  system  of  the 
former,  and  the  Christian  religion  as  upheld  by 
the  latter,  or  that  between  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hill  and 
Daniel  Roe.  on  the  Roman  Catholic  and  the  New 
Church  (Swedenborgian)  doctrines— and  like  every 
-other  public  discussion  of  deeply  interesting  sub- 
jects, furnishing  each  party  with  supplies  of  argu- 
ments for  strengthening  the  previous  belief  of  the 
hearers,  but  seldom  changing  the  opinions  of  any 
^)f  them. 

The  following  extracts  from  letters  written  at 
-subsequent  periods,  give  strong  expression  of  his 
sentiments  and  feelings  on  the  slavery  question, 
as  the  events  of  the  period  called  them  forth. 
That  question  had  become  the  dividing  theme  of 
the  two  great  parties  into  which  our  country  al- 
ways has  been  and  probably  is  destined  always  to 
be  divided.  The  danger  of  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union  has  been  so  often  made  a  theme  of  ambi- 
tious demogogues,  for  use  in  stump  speeches,  that 
he  regarded  it  as  one  of  those  dangers  which  hare 


204  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

been  impending  over  the  country  at  the  time  of 
almost  every  Presidential  election,  and  which  have 
subsided  immediately  after  the  story  has  been  told 
by  the  ballot  boxes,  which  like  figures,  and  unlike 
stump  orators,  do  not  lie.  His  sentiments  on  this 
subject  were  deeply  felt  and  strongly  expressed. 
Although  he  had  many  dear  friends  among  the 
slave  holders,  whose  situation  he  could  appreciate 
correctly,  he  never  disguised  his  sentiments  on 
the  subject  with  them.  But  he  was  ready  to  do 
them  justice,  and  in  conversation  with  Northern 
abolitionists  he  would  sometimes  appear  to  them 
to  be  the  advocate  of  slavery. 

At  the  period  above  referred  to,  he  expressed 
his  feelings  veiy  freely  in  his  correspondence,  spe- 
cimens of  which  are  given  in  the  following  ex- 
tracts : 

*  *  *  ('It  is  all  idle  to  think  of  putting 
down  the  pro-slavery  feeling  in  so  religious  a  com- 
munity as  that  of  Xew  England,  and  I  do  not  in- 
tend to  fight  against  it  any  longer;  Moses  and  the 
Prophets  are  against  me,  and  the  Apostles  are  not 
on  my  side — '  the  glittering  generalities '  that 
you  shall  not  oppress  your  neighbor,  and  that  you 
shall  'do  unto  others  as  you  would  they  should  do 
unto  you,'  have  not  a  feathers  weight  against  the 
direct  authority  of  Moses,  that  you  shall  buy  slaves 
of  the  heathen,  and  leave  them  as  an  inheritance 
to  your  children,  and  that  you  may  whip  them  to 
death  without  being  answerable  for  it,  because  they 
are  your  money,  etc.,  etc.     *     *      We  have  been 


NEW   HAVEN.  205 

much  edified  by  the  late  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  in  the  Dred  Scott  case,  and  think  that  after 
Kansas  has  been  admitted  as  a  slave  State,  and 
the  Lemmon  case  decided  in  our  favor,  (as  the}" 
certainly  will  be,)  we  shall  be  able  to  take  higher 
and  more  Constitutional  ground,  and  after  Virginia 
has  replenished  her  treasury  by  the  sale  of  all  her 
free  negroes,  I  see  no  good  reason  why  she  should 
not  be  authorized  to  replenish  her  population  by 
sending  it  into  the  free  States,  and  buying  or  steal- 
ing such  of  the  young  men  and  women  of  the  lower 
order — "greasy  mechanics,"'  etc., — as  she  may 
find  desirable,  either  for  home  consumption,  or  to 
send  South  for  sale.  There  cannot  be  the  slight- 
est  question  as  to  the  Constitutionality  of  such  a 
proceeding,  as  it  is  evident  that  the  true  meaning 
of  the  clause  "  to  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty 
to  ourselves  and  posterity,"  means,  to  secure  them 
to  all  born  white  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line 
— the  universal  opinion  of  the  civilized  world,  that 
the  "greasy  mechanics, ;"  and  other  laboring  classes, 
are  an  inferior  class  of  beings,  can't  be  disputed — 
and  the  idea  that  the  framers  of  the  Constitution, 
being  of  the  First  Families  of  Virginia,  or  other 
Southern  States,  should  have  thought  of  guaran- 
teeing them  the  same  rights  and  privileges  claimed 
by  themselves,  is  too  preposterous  to  be  thought 
of  for  a  moment.  This  argument  might  be  con- 
tinued after  the  manner  of  Judge  Taney,  and  made 
equally  satisfactory  and  conclusive,  but  I  think  it 
unnecessary,  and  every  right-minded  person  who 
18 


206  MEMOIR  OF  SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

is  a  friend  to  the  Union,  will  see  at  a  glance  that 
the  framcrs  of  the  Constitution  never  had  the  re- 
motest idea  that  the  cotton  fields  of  the  South 
should  be  deprived  of  laborers  by  the  shallow  pre- 
tence that  the  Constitution  was  intended  to  guar- 
antee the  blessing  of  liberty  to  persons  born  north 
of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  and  especially  those  of 
the  lower  orders — and  should  a  doubt  ever  arise 
on  the  subject,  I  think  it  will  be  set  at  rest  by  the 
uniform  practice  of  Southern  politicians,  of  buying 
and  selling  Northern  dough-faces  ever  since  the 
government  has  been  established."      *        * 

*  *  August,  185G.  "We  are  at  this  mo- 
ment firing  a  grand  salute  in  honor  of  the  glorious 
victory  of  the  Slave-Power  over  those  d — d  Aboli- 
tionists that  infest  the  House  of  Eepresentatives. 
A  clean  army  bill  is  passed,  and  there  is  nothing 
now  to  prevent  Gen.  P.  Smith  from  driving  all 
those  infamous  Free  State  men  out  of  Kansas,  and 
establishing  our  beloved  peculiar  institution  on  a 
firm  and  solid  basis. 

*  Are  you  going  to  elect  Fremont  ? 

and  is  it  best  that  he  shall  be  elected?  I  am 
rather  disposed  to  think  not ;  for  I  have  a  strong 
desire  to  have  Mr.  Toombs  boast  of  calling  the  roll 
of  his  slaves  under  the  shadow  of  Bunker  Hill 
monument,  literally  verified,  and  I  do  not  wish  to 
have  any  invidious  distinctions  made  respecting 
color,  as  I  am  perfectly  satisfied  that  the  whites 
will  make  just  as  good  slaves  as  the  blacks,  if  you 
only  give  them  a  chance.         *         *        '■■'-       I  am 


NEW    HAVEN.  207 

•afraid  it  will  take  a  great  deal  more  cudgelling 
than  we  have  had  yet,  to  convince  New  England 
that  she  can  sell  her  tin -cups  and  wooden  nutmegs 
to  the  Southern  chivalry  just  as  well  after  they 
have  dissolved  partnership,  as  before ;  until  this  is 
done,  we  have  only  to  take  patiently  whatever  in. 
solence  and  scourging  it  may  please  our  Southern 
friends  to  vouchsafe  us.  The  Legislature  of  Con- 
necticut is  now  sitting  here  in  New  Haven,  and 
every  morning  Mr.  Toucey  has  a  larger  number  of 
votes  for  TJ.  S.  Senator  than  any  other  man.  So 
long  as  such  a  state  of  things  continues,  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  one  or  more  Free  State  Senators  or 
Members  will  be  assaulted  and  thoroughly  beaten 
every  day — that  a  Yankee  school  master  will  be 
shot  down,  or  tarred  and  feathered,  at  least  three 
times  a  week — that  all  Free  State  women  living 
in  a  Slave  State  will  be  imprisoned  and  kept  with- 
out fire  and  clothes  or  bed  to  sleep  on,  more  espe- 
cially if  in  weak  health — and  that  any  respectable 
New  England  man,  found  in  any  Southern  city, 
Will  be  immediately  expelled  therefrom  by  mob 
violence,  even  should  he  be  there  in  an  ambassa- 
dorial capacity  from  a  sovereign  and  friendly  State. 
I  think  of  selling  my  place  here,  and  going  South 
to  engage  in  the  negro  breeding  business.  I  could 
no  doubt  make  it  profitable,  and  it  is  becoming  so 
highly  respectable  that  it  would  be  worth  a  man's 
while  to  enter  into  it  at  merely  a  moderate  profit: 
will  you  join  me?  *  *  *  But  enough 
of  this — T  am  sick  and  tired  of  it — and  E.  has  be- 


208  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

come  so  excited  and  nervous  about  Kansas  and 
Sumner  affairs,  that  I  have  had  to  take  her  to  New 
York,  until  thought  and  feeling  should  get  into 
the  channel  of  new  silks  and  bonnets,  and  become 
quieted. 

*  *  *  "I  hope  you  compromise  people 
Avill  feel  comfortable  when  Douglas  gets  his  Ne- 
braska bill  through,  as  I  expect  he  will.  If  I  were 
in  the  place  of  Chase  and  Sumner,  and  the  other 
Abolitionists,  I  would  not  only  vote  for  Douglas' 
bill,  but  would  introduce  a  new  one,  which  should 
compel  every  State  hereafter  admitted  to  the 
Union,  to  be  a  Slave  State,  whether  they  would  or 
not.  The  policy  of  such  a  movement  is  so  obvious 
that  I  am  surprised  the  Free  Soil  party  has  never 
adopted  it.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  curse  of  slav- 
ery, the  States  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky  would 
now  have  had  the  supreme  control  of  the  whole 
Union — the  port  of  Alexandria  would  have  been 
the  New  York  of  the  country,  the  cotton  mills  of 
Massachusetts  and  .Rhode  Island  would  have  been 
on  the  Potomac — New  York  would  have  remained 
a  Dutch  Province,  and  Pennsylvania  a  German 
one,  and  Ohio  would  still  be  a  wilderness.  What 
folly  then  for  the  Free  States  to  put  it  in  the  power 
of  their  neighbors  to  take  the  bread  from  their 
mouths.  I  believe  if  this  ground  were  taken  and 
stoutly  maintained  by  the  Free  Soil  and  Com- 
promise parties,  that  in  five  years  the  politicians 
of  the  Southern  States  would  be  as  clamorous  for 
Abolition  as  they  now  are  for  Extension." 


NEW    HAVEN.  209 

The  visit  of  Kossuth  to  this  country,  of  course, 
excited  his  attention ;  and  the  following  extracts 
from  his  letters  exhibit  the  feelings  and  opinions 
called  forth  on  the  occasion.  White  slavery  in 
Europe  did  not  seem  to  him  to  require  so  much  of 
his  attention  as  negro  slavery  in  the  United  States, 
but  human  freedom,  generally,  was  always  a  sub- 
ject of  interest  to  him. 

The  besetting  sin  of  the  people  of  this  country 
is  to  overdo  every  thing  which  is  supposed  to  ac- 
cord with  the  feelings  of  the  people  generally, 
and  to  atone  for  our  want  of  a  sufficient  number 
of  stated  holidays  for  the  people,  by  giving  occa- 
sional ones,  whenever  circumstances  are  favorable 
for  them. 

*  *  *  "I  suppose  no  one  is  aware  of  the 
amount  of  suffering  he  can  bear  till  he  is  tried. 
I  was  perfectly  satisfied  some  time  since  that  read- 
ing all  the  speeches  that  Kossuth  had  delivered  in 
England  and  America — and  some  of  them  capital 
good  ones — together  with  all  he  had  yet  to  deliver, 
would  exceed  the  utmost  limit  of  human  endur- 
ance, but  I  find  I  was  sadly  mistaken — the  little 
finger  of  the  Morgan,  Hodge  and  Long  corres- 
pondence is  thicker  than  Kossuth's  loins,  and  yet 
one  is  obliged  to  read  it  or  find   himself  behind 

the  times.     Our  friend  C is  a  raving  Kossuth 

man,  and  like  all  other  young  men  who  are  good 
for  any  thing,  is  perfectly  satisfied  that  the  world 
is  about  to  be  regenerated — that  we  must  put  our 
shoulders  to  the  wheel,  and  the  thing  will  be  done; 
18* 


210  MEMOIR   OF   SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

all  that  is  necessary  is  to  put  down  Tyranny  and 
Oppression,  and  imbue  the  world  with  true  Chris- 
tian principles  of  doing  as  we  would  have  others 
do  to  us — in  short,  he  has  adopted  our  friend 
L 's  theory,  and  insists  upon  it  that  the  desti- 
ny of  the  world  is  in  our  hands,  and  that  it  is  a 
shameful  deviation  from  our  imperative  duties  to 
suffer  wrong  and  injustice  any  longer  to  show  their 
heads  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  therefore  we 
must  fall  down  and  worship  Kossuth,  and  be  led 

by  H ,     Should  you  not  be  able  to  perceive 

the  necessary  sequence,  go  to  C or  G and 

they  will  enlighten  you.  I  suppose  you  wonder 
what  all  this  has  to  do  with  you  or  me ;  with  you, 
perhaps,  it  has  little  in  common,  but  it  makes  it 
necessary  for  me,  if  I  would  not  be  put  down  and 
trampled  upon,  to  read  all  Kossuth's  speeches,  and 
the  interminable  correspondence  of  our  Naval  and 
diplomatic  '  Eeeds,'  when  they  are 'shaken  by 
the  wind'  of  a  French  Prefect  or  a  Hungarian 
Eefugee. 

#  *  #  "Are  you  all  as  Kossuth  mad  in 
Cincinnati  as  we  are  here  and  in  New  York?  if 
you  are,  the  Lord  have  mercy  on  you;  for  we  are 
past  praying  for.  I  should  like  very  well  to  be  a 
friend  and  partisan  of  the  cause  of  Hungary  and 
Kossuth,  and  liberty,  and  all  that  myself,  if  every- 
body were  not  making  such  Judys  of  themselves, 
and  running  the  matter  clear  into  the  ground — 
out  of  sight.  I  hope  if  Kossuth  is  to  be  killed  for 
the  gratification   of  our  rage  for  man -worship,  it 


NEW    HAVEN.  211 

will  be  before  he  is  made  a  fool  of — for  I  am  dis- 
posed to  believe  he  is  a  very  clever  fellow,  and  one 
who  may  be  of  great  service  in  upsetting  such  se- 
vere despotisms  as  those  of  Naples,  Austria,  and 
Eussia,  if  he  is  not  poisoned  by  the  slime  of  popu- 
lar adulation.  His  Avife,  too,  I  like  much,  and 
think  she  ought  to  have  a  statue  erected  to  her, 
with  her  answer  to  the  'woman's  rights '  deputa- 
tion for  the  inscription  on  the  base." 

Louis  Napoleon's  coup  d'etat  called  forth  the 
following  denunciation : 

*  *       "I   have  little  domestic  intelli- 

gence to  give  you,  and  am  so  bamboozled  by  the 
public  and  political  movements  of  the  outside 
world,  that  I  don't  know  what  will  become  of  me. 
Kossuth  is  insisting  with  an  eloquence  seldom,  if 
ever  equalled,  that  we  shall  commit  ourselves  body 
and  soul  to  a  crusade  to  redeem  the  down-trodden 
millions  of  Europe,  from  the  iron  rule  of  Desj^ot- 
ism,  at  the  same  time,  that  one  of  its  most  en- 
lightened nations,  after  an  experience  of  many 
years  of  self-government  in  various  forms,  is  al- 
lowing a  trumj>ery  'Nephew  of  his  Uncle'  to 
assume  and  exercise  over  them  a  wantonness  ol 
despotism  which  would  disgust  the  slaves  of  the 
Sublime  Porte,  or  the  Emperor  of  Morocco.  I  am 
perfectly  bewildered  with  the  idea  that  so  poor  a 
thing  as  Louis  Buonaparte  can,  with  a  scratch  of 
his  pen,  send  hundreds  of  the  best  and  most  influ- 
ential men  in  France  to  rot  in  the  swamps  of  Cay- 
enne, and  thousands  of  them,  including  the  high- 


212  MEMOIR    OP    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

est  and  most  popular  of  their  military  chieftains, 
to  wander  in  homeless  exile — that  the  whole  peo- 
ple embodied  as  a  National  Guard,  in  precisely 
the  form  that  one  would  suppose  best  adapted  to 
prevent  and  put  down  such  daring  usurpation, 
should  at  his  bidding  quietly  surrender  their  arms 
and  uniforms,  and  break  up  a  military  organiza- 
tion which  it  has  always  been  supposed  was  the 
only  thing  necessary  to  enable  a  people  to  resist 
any  infringement  of  their  liberties,  or  put  down 
established  despotisms,  in  short,  all  that  Kossuth 
wants  to  establish  freedom  throughout  the  world 
— that  an  imbecile,  twaddling  bankrupt  should 
establish  himself  in  the  Palace  of  the  Tuileries^ 
and  send  forth  day  by  day,  and  hour  by  hour,  de- 
crees that  Louis  XIV.  or  the  Emperor  Napoleon 
would  not  have  dared  to  think  of — and  all  France 
seem  to  take  it  as  a  matter  of  course — that  under 
such  a  state  of  things  everybody  should  appear  to 
be  satisfied — that  funds  should  rise  and  trade 
flourish — is  it  not  enough  to  make  one  crazy?'' 

The  long  period  of  drought  and  hot  weather  in 
New  England  during  the  summer  of  1856,  is  thus 
feelingly  alluded  to  in  one  of  his  letters: 

*  *  *  "Had  you  been  here  for  the  last 
fortnight  you  would  have  been  fried  brown.  The 
hot  weather  in  Cincinnati  melts  one  down  into  a 
liquid  pulp,  here  it  fries  us  to  a  crisp,  and  I  do  not 
know  which  is  the  worst.  For  67  years  past  the 
thermometer  has  told  no  such  tales  as  during  the 
last  three  weeks — so  say  the  wise  ones — in  our 


NEW    HAVEN.  213 

entry  it  has  been  between  80°  and  90°  every  day 
but  one,  and  it  once  rose  to  91°.  We  have  also  had, 
and  still  have  an  unprecedented^drought  during 
the  whole  time.  My  potato  crop  is  entirely  ruin- 
ed, and  I  shall  not  have  half  enough  for  my  own 
use;  my  corn  is  nearly  as  bad,  and  I  fear  I  shall 
not  have  enough  to  fatten  my  pigs ;  so  you  see 
that  starvation  stares  us  in  the  face,  both  on  the 
animal  and  vegetable  sides.  Luckily  the  eating 
of  horseflesh  appears  to  be  coming  into  use,  and  as 
I  have  plenty  of  hay,  I  hope  to  be  able  to  get 
through  the  coming  winter,  and  not  in  a  coach, 
but  on  ahorse." 

As  a  contrast  to  this  desponding  state  of  feeling, 
we  revert  to  the  period  of  one  of  his  early  visits 
to  Ohio,  and  give  the  following  extracts  of  a  letter 
written  at  the  Yellow  Springs,  at  a  period  when 
that  delightful  summer  retreat  was  free  from  any 
of  the  contaminating  influences  of  fashionable  life, 
and  when  summer  tourists  had  not  lost  that  good 
taste  which  derives  its  enjoyments  from  what  na- 
ture gives,  and  do  not  seek  them  in  contentions 
and  strife  for  superiority  in  dress,  and  in  the  vari- 
ous forms  of  the  displays  of  wealth.  The  influ- 
ence of  the  beautiful  and  fertile  regions  of  the 
West,  and  their  contrast  with  most  of  the  countries 
he  had  visited,  had  a  powerful  influence  in  his 
selection  of  his  place  of  residence. 

July  16,  1828. — "Do  you  know  where  we  are'/ 
why  in  the  middle  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  in  the 
most  delightful  place  in  the  world — so  cool  and 


214  MEMOIR     OF    SAMUEL    E.    POOTE. 

pleasant — such  a  fine  healthy  situation — such  a 
romantic  country — such  lovely  rides  and  walks — 
such  a  splendid  chalybeate  spring — such  pleasant 
society — in  short,  the  most  beautiful  summer  re- 
treat in  the  world.  The  country  is  like  Connecti- 
cut, only  pleasanter,  and  the  people  are  many  of 
them  from  thence — the  choice  spirits  of  the  State 
picked  out  and  congregated  here  to  escape  from 
the  cares  and  bustle  of  life,  and  enjoy  a  few  weeks 
of  cool  fresh  air,  and  each  -other's  society.  We 
had  a  week  or  two  of  excessively  hot  weather  be- 
fore we  left  Cincinnati,  and  all  got  somewhat  ex- 
hausted, and  complaining,  so  we  came  up  to  lay 
in  a  stock  of  health  and  spirits  to  last  us  for  the 
rest  of  the  summer." 

Some  extracts  of  a  more  miscellaneous  charac- 
ter arc  added.  In  a  letter  to  a  medical  friend,  he 
propounds  one  of  his  i^aradoxes  on  medicine. 

"I  am  very  much  scandalized  that  you  physi- 
cians, after  two  or  three  thousand  years  of  study 
and  experience,  should  be  so  utterly  unable  to 
cure  any  disorder  that  would  not  cure  itself  with- 
out you,  and  I  verily  begin  to  believe  that  the 
Homoepathists  have  the  good  sense  of  the  matter 
in  their  practice,  and  a  drop  of  camomile  tea  mixed 
with  the  whole  water  of  Lake  Superior  is  just  as' 
likely  to  cure  any  disease  as  the  prescriptions  of  a 
physician. 

Our  children  are  very  well;  and  they  appear 
to  be  very  happy,  partly,  I  suppose,  because 
they  are  well,  and  partly  because  we  do  not  send 


NEW    HAVEN.  215 

them  to  school,  or  in  any  manner  make  old 
people  of  them.  B.  J.  is  very  well,  but  has  had  a 
great  deal  of  sickness  in  his  family  this  winter, 
and  Mrs.  S.  is  still  very  far  from  well.  Her  hus- 
band  beingaphysician,  andall  living  in  one  family, 
would  readily  account  for  its  general  want  of  good 
health  ;  but  somehow  or  other  the  whole  female 
population  of  the  country  seems  to  be  destitute  of 
any  thing  like  good  health,  and  it  is  almost  liter- 
ally true  that  I  do  not  know  a  really  healthy  wo- 
man in  the  whole  circle  of  my  acquaintances. 
Can  you  give  any  good  reason  for  this?-' 

Another  specimen  of  the  medical  paradoxes 
which  he  liked  to  propound,  is  seen  in  the  follow- 
ing extract: 

;::  *  -iI  have  been  quite  edified  by  your 
address*  to  the  homicides  (that  are  to  be)  of  Cin- 
cinnati and  parts  adjacent.  There  i^ 
a  matter  in  your  address  that  I  can  hardly  make 
up  my  mind  to  subscribe  to.  You  assume  that  it 
is  a  more  praiseworthy  vocation  to  bind  up  the 
wounds  and  preserve  the  lives  of  soldiers  than 
that  of  procuring  them  to  be  wounded  and  killed. 
The  soldier  hires  himself  out  to  be  shot,  and  I 
think  his  employers  are  bound  in  good  faith  to 
perform  their  part  of  the  agreement,  and  have  him 
shot,  and  the  surgeon  who  interferes  in  the  matter 
is  rather  meddling  with  what  does  not  concern 
him;  unless  he  does  it  in  the  way  of  perfecting 


*  An  iddrcsa  to  medical  students  at  their  graduation 


216  MEMOIR   OF     SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 


\ 


himself  in  his  profession,  in  which  case  he  should 
only  be  allowed  to  cut  and  carve  in  such  a  way  as 
may  be  beneficial  to  himself,  and  not  to  his  pa- 
tient." 

His  opinions  on  the  subject  of  railroad  and 
steamboat  accidents,  and  the  dangers  of  the  land, 
are  given  in  his  peculiar  vein,  in  the  following 
extract : 

*  "  I  congratulate  you  on  your  safe  ar- 

rival, without  being  ground  up  between  broken 
railroad  cars,  or  scalded,  or  burnt,  or  blown  up  on 
some  steamboat.  But  you  do  not  seem  have  kept 
up  with  the  progressive  age,  in  the  matter  of  travel- 
ins;.  The  idea  that  a  man's  comfort  or  even  his  life 
is  a  matter  of  as  much  importance,  and  to  be  at- 
tended to  with  as  much  care  as  the  safe  carriage 
and  delivery  of  a  package  of  goods,  is  altogether 
obsolete,  and  only  referred  to  by  persons  who  have 
become  so  old  and  broken  down  that  they  can 
amuse  themselves  in  projecting,  and  endeavoring 
to  make  politicians  assist  them  in  making  rail- 
roads across  great  continents,  and  through  moun- 
tains so  high  that  birds  can  not  fly  over  them.  I 
am  afraid  that  you  people  of  the  olden  time  will 
never  get  over  your  prejudices  respecting  the  value 
of  the  lives  of  men  and  women  and  children,  and 
yet  they  would  seem  to  have  had  a  very  proper 
estimate  of  them  in  the  earlier  ages  of  the  world, 
when  Timour  could  build  a  pyramid  of  skulls,  or 
Herod  send  out  and  have  all  the  children  in  Judea 
murdered  in  cold  blood  before  breakfast,  without 


NEW    HAVEN.  217 

even  having  the  matter  alluded  to  in  the  morning 
papers.  There  is  some  comfort,  however,  in  the 
knowledge  that  our  'fast'  age  is  beginning  to  ap- 
preciate the  soundness  of  the  views  of  the  men  of 
old — not  old  men — and  I  see  no  reason  why  we 
may  not,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  be  able  to 
blow  up  a  thousand  people  in  a  steamboat,  or  grind 
them  up  on  a  railroad  with  as  much  sang-froid  as 
they  used  formerly  to  sack  a  city,  and  murder  all 
the  inhabitants." 

Speaking  of  Jenny  Lind,  he  says  :  *  *  * 
"I  like  her  much,  she  has  the  only  good  voice  I 
ever  heard  from  a  public  singer,  and  if  she  would 
not  be  driven  to  execute  these  fantastic  feats  which 
ought  to  be  impossible,  she  would  be  perfect.  Per- 
sonally she  is  exceedingly  interesting." 

"I  have  been  much  edified  by  your  account  of 
G \s  spiritual  intercourse  with  his  cook.         * 

*  "We  have  not  been  much  troubled  with 
spiritual  matters  latelv  except  a  small  dab  from 
C . 

*  *  What  a  pity  that  you  and  I  are  so 
old  that  we  cannot  hope  to  see  the  time  when  our 
social  intercourse  will  embrace  the  spiritual  as 
well  as  the  natural  world,  and  when  it  will  make 
very  little  difference  whether  our  friends  are  dead 
or  alive ;  with  some  of  them,  it  is  true,  it  makes 
very  little  difference  now.  but  there  are  others 
with  whom  it  would  be  a  comfort  to  spend  an 
evening  occasionally.  *         *        *        *        * 

*  *        September  4.  1854.     "Our  White  Mt 

19 


218  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

expedition  was  an  entire  failure.  *  *  S. 
and  F.  and  L.  made  the  trip,  and  had  a  very  pleas- 
ant time.  All  such  jaunts  you  know  are  very 
pleasant  after  you  have  got  through  with  them, 
and  have  nothing  to  do  but  give  glowing  descrip- 
tions of  all  you  have  seen  and  heard  and  done, 
and  make  all  those  who  could  not  go  unhappy,  in 
which  they  have  been  perfectly  successful  with  E., 
but  they  will  have  to  talk  a  great  deal  longer,  and 
tell  much  bigger  stories,  before  they  produce 
much  effect  upon  me." 


THE    LAST    OP    EARTH.  219 


CHAPTEE    XIV 

THE  LAST  OF  EARTH. 


"  We  cannot  bold  mortality's  strong  hand." — Shakespeare. 


During  a  residence  of  eight  years  in  New 
Haven, — a  period  devoted  chiefly  to  labors  and 
experiments  in  Horticulture  and  Agriculture — the 
influence  of  an  active  life  in  pure  open  air  doubt- 
less had  a  tendency  to  preserve  the  health  and  en- 
ergies of  Mr.  Foote  unimpaired  until  the  period 
of  his  last  sickness,  in  October,  1858. 

He  had  lived — in  years — beyond  the  Scripture 
term  of  the  ordinary  life  of  man,  and  in  acts  and 
experience,  a  still  longer  period.  For  he  not  only 
began  to  be  a  man  at  a  much  earlier  period  of  life 
than  that  in  which  boys  are  usually  changed  into 
men,  but  he  performed  a  greater  amount  of  manly 
labors  in  any  given  time  of  his  early  life,  than  any 
of  his  cotemporaries. 

His  time  was  seldom  or  never  wasted  during  his 
early  years;  but  the  labors,  anxieties,  exposures 
and  fatigues  of  that  period  necessarily  affected  his 
constitution,  and  rendered  him  less  able  to  over- 
come disease  in  his  old  age.     He  had  suffered  two 


220  MEMOIR    OF   SAMUEL    E.  FOOTE. 

attacks  of  the  diseases  of  tropical  climates,  (yel- 
low fever  in  the  West  Indies,  and  a  fever  of  some- 
what similar  character  in  Buenos  Ayres,)  and  had 
been  often  exposed  to  the  influences  of  sickly  cli- 
mates, which  had  been  rendered  innoxious  to  him 
through  the  exercise  of  prudence,  temperance,  and 
suitable  precautions.  But  his  system  was  neces- 
sarily so  much  worn  as  to  render  it  incapable  of  re- 
sisting the  attack  of  any  violent  disease,  and  that 
which  terminated  his  existence  was  so  violent  in 
its  attack  as  to  cause  great  apprehensions  of  a  fatal 
termination.  As  soon  as  the  account  of  his  condi- 
tion reached  the  writer,  he  visited  him,  and  found 
him, in  the  condition  described  to  him.  After  the 
first  salutation,  the  sick  man  said,  "I  am  an  old 
man,  my  sands  are  nearly  run  out — I  am  going 
now,  but  you  and  George  (his  other  brother)  will 
soon  follow," — speaking  as  if  he  did  not  expect  to 
be  separated  long  from  his  friends,  and  exhibiting 
as  much  cheerful  hope  as  his  physical  pain  would 
permit.  During  his  intervals  of  ease,  his  usual 
cheerful,  pleasant  humor,  was  so  frequently  exhi- 
bited, that  although  his  excellent  physicians,  Pro- 
fessor Knight,  of  Xew  Haven,  and  Dr.  Bumsey7 
of  Fishkill,  (an  intimate  personal  friend,)  gave 
very  small  hopes  of  his  recovery,  his  friends  and 
family  could  not  give  up  the  expectation  of  a 
favorable  change  in  the  aspect  of  his  disease,  for 
it  was  hard  to  bring  their  minds  to  the  belief  that 
there  could  not  be  a  longer  period  for  their  enjoy- 
ment of  that  social  kindness,  that  easy,  quiet  hu- 


THE    LAST    OF    EARTH.  221 

mor,  that  sympathy  with  the  suffering,  and  that 
general  philanthropy  by  which  he  was  character- 
ised. 

To  his  elder  brother  the  idea  had  never  occurred 
that  he  should  be  called  to  record  the  life  and 
death  of  the  younger.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  a 
consolitary  hope  with  him  that  when  called  to  de- 
part, the  paternal  cares  for  those  loved  ones  whom 
he  must  leave,  would  be  continued  for  a  while  by 
a  younger  and  more  efficient  brother. 

On  the  morning  of  his  death,  the  family  were 
assembled  in  his  room,  some  of  them  sitting  and 
standing  near  his  couch,  when  he  desired  to  be 
raised  up,  but  as  soon  as  it  was  done  he  requested 
to  be  laid  down  again,  and  in  the  act  a  sudden 
painful  spasm  was  seen  to  have  seized  him,  and 
life  was  extinct  in  a  moment.  The  painful  ex- 
pression of  his  countenance  immediately  passed 
off  and  was  succeeded  by  a  singularly  beautiful  ex- 
pression of  happiness,  which,  after  a  few  hours, 
subsided  into  an  appearance  of  a  natural  state  of 
quiet,  peaceful  sleep. 

The  just  appreciation  of  his  character  by  his 
fellow  citizens  of  Xew  Haven,  will  be  seen  in  the 
following  obituary  notices  in  the  daily  papers : 

[From  the  New  Haven  News,  Nov.  3d.] 

Death  or  Samuel  E.  Eoote. — Another  of  our  most  re- 
spected citizens  has  departed.  Mr.  Samuel  E.  Eoote,  who 
died  on  Monday,  Nov.  1,  came  to  reside  here  some  eight  years 
since. 

19* 


222  MEMOIR   OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

After  giving  a  sketch  of  his  life,  the  following 
estimate  of  his  character  was  added : 

Few  men,  if  any,  whose  time  was  not  passed  in  public  life,, 
have  ever  produced  in  the  community  a  profounder  feeling 
of  confidence  and  regard  than  Mr.  Foote.  It  was  so  at  Cin- 
cinnati— it  was  so  here.  His  honor  was  above  suspicion, 
and  his  intellect  was  clear  and  true  as  the  diamond ;  while 
his  sympathies  for  the  suffering  and  oppressed  were  if  any- 
thing too  tender.  Those  who  knew  him  least  respected  him, 
and  those  who  knew  him  best  loved  him  most.  "While  then 
his  family  and  friends  mourn  deeply  their  loss,  our  city  too 
will  regret  the  departure  of  one  of  her  purest  men. 

The  New  Haven  Journal  gave  a  more  extensive 
obituary,  which  is  here  copied  in  full : 

Capt.  Samuel  E.  Foote. — "Within  the  memory  of  men 
now  living,  perhaps  no  year  of  general  health  has  in  New 
Haven  been  marked  so  much  as  this  by  the  loss  of  so  many 
of  the  most  eminent  and  beloved  of  our  older  citizens.  To 
the  honored  names  of  Dr.  Taylor,  Dr.  Croswell,  Hon.  Henry 
E.  Peck,  John  Fitch,  Thomas  Bennett,  Thaddeus  Sherman, 
Capt.  Goodrich,  Dr.  Beers,  Hon.  Aaron  N.  Skinner,  and 
others,  must  now  be  added  that  of  Capt.  Samuel  E.  Foote, 
who  died  of  a  disease  of  the  heart,  at  his  residence  in  this 
city,  on  Monday  last,  about  nine  o'clock,  A.  M.,  after  an  ill- 
ness of  about  four  weeks. 

Capt.  Foote  was  born  in  the  town  of  Guilford,  in  this 
State,  on  the  29th  day  of  October,  1787,  and  had  therefore 
just  finished  his  seventy-first  year. 

His  early  life  was  spent  on  a  farm,  from  which  like  many 
others  of  the  most  enterprising  and  stirring  young  men  of 
New  England  at  that  time,  he  passed  to  a  life  of  peril  and 
hardy  adventure  upon  the  sea.  With  such  quickness  of  per- 
ception, such  maturity  of  judgment,  and  such  integrity  as 
his  he  could  not  fail  to  make  rapid  advancement,  and  he  ac- 


THE    LAST    OF    EARTH.  223 

cordingly  was  in  full  command  of  a  ship  before  he  had 
reached  his  twentieth  year.  His  voyages  were  made  to  al- 
most every  quarter  of  the  globe  with  which  commerce  was 
then  carried  on — to  South  America  and  the  "West  Indies,  to 
Africa,  to  the  Mediterranean,  and  to  the  British  Isles.  He 
continued  in  this  business  for  about  twenty  years,  during 
which  time  his  ship  was  once  captured  by  privateers,  and 
he  lost  the  avails  of  his  ventures. 

About  thirty-one  years  ago  he  retired  from  the  sea,  when 
he  was  married,  and  shortly  afterwards  settled  in  Cincinnati, 
where  his  character  and  talents  soon  placed  him  among  the 
leading  men. 

He  was  a  noble  specimen  of  a  gentleman.  His  personal 
appearance  was  striking.  His  snow-white  beard  so  set  off 
his  fine  expressive  features,  that  the  attention  of  every  be- 
holder was  naturally  attracted. 

His  nature  was  singularly  sympathetic  and  kindly,  and 
every  way  large.  His  sense  of  justice  knowing  no  bounds 
of  caste  or  party,  made  him  deeply  interested  in  all  that  con- 
cerned the  public  welfare,  and  all  that  interested  the  weak 
and  oppressed.  His  thoughts  were  often  busy  with  ques- 
tions that  most  deeply  interest  the  public  mind,  and  to  those 
who  had  the  opportunity  of  profiting  by  his  conversation, 
it  was  always  suggestive  and  always  delightful. 

His  intellect  was  acute  and  cultivated,  and  with  sound, 
positive,  almost  dogmatic  judgment,  was  joined  a  gravity,  a 
depth  of  feeling,  and  a  peculiar  fancy,  that  made  him  some 
times  seem  to  delight  in  paradox. 

He  rejoiced  greatly  in  his  labors  in  beautifying  his  home, 
which  was  indeed  the  center  of  a  large  and  liberal  hospital- 
ity. Thither  were  welcomed  persons  of  widely  different 
opinions  and  feelings.  There  Mr.  Fitzhugh,  who  came  from 
Virginia  to  tell  us  of  the  beauties  of  slavery,  was  invited  to 
meet  "Wendell  Phillips,  with  whose  opinions  of  slavery 
Capt.  Foote  to  a  good  degree  sympathized — opinions  always 
fully  expressed,  but  never  altogether  popular.      Such  oppo- 


224  MEMOIR    OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

sites  could  cordially  meet  within  tlie  circle  of  his  genial  in- 
fluence. 

We  can  hardly  refrain  from  speaking  of  one  thing  that 
has  always  seemed  exceedingly  beautiful  and  illustrative  of 
the  character  of  this  man.  It  is  withal  such  "a  good  deed 
in  a  naughty  world,'"  that  it  deserves  to  he  alluded  to  for  the 
sake  of  the  example. 

Every  one  knows  how  a  poor  woman  in  New  Haven,  who 
had  been  highly  educated  and  delicately  bred,  became,  at 
the  age  of  fifty-five,  a  mild  religious  monomaniac,  and  how, 
with  others,  she  was  arrested  on  a  most  serious  charge  and 
thrown  into  prison.  She  was  utterly  without  money  or  in- 
fluence. It  is  not  probably  known  how  substantial  a  friend 
-he  found  in  Capt.  Foote.  It  is  not  necessary,  in  this  world, 
to  be  known  widely,  how  he  interested  himself  to  get  a  fair 
hearing  for  her  case ;  and  that  when,  after  trial,  she  was  re- 
manded to  prison,  where  she  was  likely  to  perish,  how  he 
secured  her  removal  to  his  own  house,  where,  cared  for  with 
<  very  respect  and  attention,  she  remained  about  a  year,  till 
her  death. 

Oh  !  we  know  such  things  can  not  well  be  told,  but  they 
make  the  memory  of  some  persons  blessed  forever.  We 
think  of  them  Avith  a  gratitude  too  deep  even  for  tears.  In- 
deed, a  soul  of  rare  tenderness  has  just  passed  on  among  the 
spirits  of  the  just  and  good.  Let  us  rejoice  that  we  have 
seen  and  known  him  for  a  time. 

This  just  and  beautiful  tribute  to  the  memory 
of  Samuel  E.  Foote,  refers,  in  the  two  last  para- 
graphs, to  a  singular  act  of  benevolence — an  act 
not  singular  as  such,  but  for  the  circumstances 
that  called  it  forth.  A  number  of  religious  fana- 
tics had  formed  an  association  for  mutual  enlight- 
enment in  religious  doctrines  and  duties.  They 
wished  to  perforin  some  high,  religious  acts  that 


THE    LAST    OF    EARTH.  225 

should  bear  testimony  to  their  zeal  and  devotion. 
In  this  idea  they  concluded  that  the  highest  per- 
formance of  that  character  would  be  to  destroy 
"  the  man  of  sin."  One  of  their  number  was  will- 
ing to  be  designated  as  that  man,  and  to  be  de- 
stroyed. He  was  accordingly  sacrificed,  and  the 
fact  becoming  known,  the  associates  were  imme- 
diately taken  into  custody,  to  be  dealt  with  ac- 
cording to  law.  As  their  acts  were  sufficient 
proofs  of  insanity,  they  could  not  be  punished  as 
murderers.  The  woman  above  referred  to,  was 
rather  a  passive  than  an  active  agent  in  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  fanatics,  and  during  her  residence 
in  Mr.  Foote's  family  gave  no  evidence  of  any  re- 
turn of  insanity,  but  passed  there  a  quiet  peaceful 
life  until  its  termination. 

Many  acts  of  benevolence,  unknown  to  the 
writer,  have  been  discovered  since  his  death. 
Soon  after  that  event  he  met  a  very  respectable 
colored  man  in  the  streets  of  Cincinnati,  who  en- 
quired so  particularly,  and  with  so  much  deep  feel- 
ing respecting  the  circumstances  of  Mr.  Foote's 
sickness  and  death,  that  he  thought  it  necessary 
to  give  a  reason  for  it  to  a  companion  standing 
near:  "Why,"  said  he,  "he  bought  me!"  This, 
however,  unlike  many  others  of  his  acts  of  bene- 
volence, involved  no  pecuniary  sacrifice :  the  sub- 
ject of  it  not  only  paying  the  price  of  his  freedom 
by  his  success  in  the  vocation  which  he  adopted 
as  a  free  man,  but  becoming  sufficiently  wealthy 
to  be  enabled  to  retire  to  a  farm  in  the  country, 


220  MEMOIR   OF    SAMUEL    E.    FOOTE. 

where  he  continues  to  set  a  good  example  to  his 
fellow  freedmen  of  "industry,  perseverance  and 
success." 

In  this,  as  in  many  other  instances,  the  reflec- 
tion of  the  influence  of  a  good  character  by  exciting 
imitation,  (although  in  circumstances  essentially 
different,)  was  felt  by  many  who  were  not  aware 
of  its  extent.  The  personal  exhibition  of  attrac- 
tive virtues  in  the  person  of  the  subject  of  our 
memoir  has  ceased,  but  this  record  is  intended  to 
perpetuate  the  rememberance  of  them,  and  to 
stimulate  those  youths  who  are  beginning  their 
career  in  life,  to  go  and  do  likewise. 


-A-IPIFIEIfcTIDIIX:. 

I. 


Eli  Foote  occasionally  indulged  a  taste  for  ex- 
pressing his  thoughts  in  rhymes,  which  were  gen- 
erally easy  and  graceful.  Tkey  were  as  unstudied 
as  ordinary  friendly  letters,  which,  indeed,  they 
were,  being  invitations  to  visit  his  house  on  par- 
ticular occasions  like  the  following,  or  playful  re- 
marks on  some  passing  events  of  the  time.  They 
were  not  considered  poetical,  but  merely  rhyming 
effusions,  and  were  not  preserved  with  an}'  care: 
in  consequence  of  which  the  following  specimen  of 
the  toryism  of  the  time  is  the  only  piece  that  has 
been  found,  though  some  of  his  old  friends  used 
to  speak  of  others  which  have  been  supposed  to 
have  been  much  more  worthy  of  preservation  for 
their  pleasant  humor  and  shrewd  remarks  on  the 
circumstances  that  called  them  forth. 

TO    L.  II..   Y.S'l- 

St.  Pumpkin's  Day*  being  near  at  hand, 
When  priest  and  people  through  the  laud, 


*  The  New  England  Thanksgiving  Day  received  the  sarcastic  appellation 
in  the  first  line  from  the  Churchmen,  in  retaliation  for  the  Puritan   denun- 


228  .  APPENDIX. 

E'en  every  rebel,  saint  like  whig, 
"With  carrot  locks  and  powdered  wig, 
And  coat  well  brushed,  and  shirt  of  linen, 
Made  new  from  yarn  of  good  wife's  spinning, 
Leads  little  Joe  and  simpering  spouse, 
"With  solemn  step  to  meeting  house 
To  thank  the  Lord,  whose  goodness  fills 
His  leather  book  with  Congress  bills, 
Gives  store  of  corn  to  fat  his  pork, 
And  makes  his  oxen  strong  to  work : 
Bat  most  of  all,  whose  wond'rous  power. 
Aided  our  troops  in  lucky  hour, 
Led  them  bv  dint  of  hardv  blows. 
Quite  on  the  bulwark  of  their  foes 
At  Stonev-Point :  for  which  thev  sin"- 
Praise  to  their  God,  and  damn  their  king. 

On  that  great  day  I  mean  to  dine 
On  roasted  goose  and  mutton  loin, 
And  drink  a  health  to  George  our  King, 
Who'll  rebels  to  repentance  bring. 

If  tired  with  gloomv  cares,  and  sick 
Of  dull  retirement  in  East-creek,* 
Your  Toryship  will  condescend 
To  bring  your  wife  and  see  your  friend : 
To  what  1113-  table  does  afford, 
You  shall  be  welcome  as  a  Lord. — Eli  Eoote. 

His  attachment  to  the  .Royal  cause  was  not 
shared  by  any  of  the  members  of  his  family,  and 
by  but  few  of  his  personal  friends. 


ciation  of  Christmas.  Minced-pies  which  had  always  heen  considered  a 
necessary  aid  for  the  due  celebration  of  Christmas,  were  considered  as  sa- 
voring too  much  of  prelatism,  and  pumpkin-pies  were  raised  to  festive  pre- 
eminence in  their  stead. 

*  A  district  of  Guilford  so  called. 


APPENDIX.  229 

It  was  rather  a  religious  than  a  political  senti- 
ment that  caused  the  distinction  between  the 
Whigs  and  Tories  of  ]N~ew  England  during  the 
war  of  the  revolution.  The  Puritan  fathers  did 
not  come  to  America  to  establish  free  toleration 
for  the  religious  belief  of  others,  but  to  establish 
a  supremacy  for  their  own  religious  doctrines,  with 
freedom  on  their  part  to  prevent  all  other  doc- 
trines from  contaminating  the  minds  and  morals 
of  the  members  of  their  Commonwealth.  They 
intended  to  establish  a  Theocratical  government, 
as  nearly  on  the  principles  of  that  of  the  ancient 
Jews  as  circumstances  would  permit,  under  which 
all  freedom  of  opinion  in  religious  matters  should 
be  monopolized  by  the  elders  and  rulers  of  their 
Church.  Full  and  free  toleration  of  religious 
opinions  was  not  included  in  any  system  of  gov- 
ernment then  existing  in  the  civilized  world.  Its 
value  as  an  aid  to  the  progress  of  Christianity  was 
a  discovery  of  a  later  period.  Its  necessity  to  any 
system  of  free  government  was  understood  as  soon 
as  the  United  States  were  required  to  frame  such 
a  government. 

Previous  to  the  revolution,  the  Episcopalians 
considered  that  the  circumstance  of  their's  beinir 
the  established  Church  of  the  mother  country,  was 
their  only  security  from  the  persecutions  which 
the  Quakers,  and  others  of  different  denomina- 
tions, suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  Puritans.  They, 
therefore,  very  naturally  ranged  themselves  under 
the  banner  of  "Church  and  King,"  fearing  to  lose, 
20 


230  APPENDIX. 

in  case  of  the  establishment  of  the  independence 
of  their  country,  the  security  they  enjoyed  for 
their  worship  after  the  manner  of  their  forefathers. 
If  the  Puritans  had  confined  their  intolerance  to 
that  of  the  immoralities  and  vices  cultivated  by 
the  Cavaliers,  who,  at  the  restoration,  obtained  an 
unbounded  sway  in  politics  and  manners,  as  dis- 
tinctive marks  of  their  being  the  opponents  of  the 
late  government,  it  would  have  saved  their  repu- 
tation from  much  obloquy  on  account  of  their  re- 
lio'ious  intolerance. 

The  two  cardinal  virtues  with  them  were  rigid 
Sabbath  observance  and  chastity.  These  will  make 
any  nation  powerful  and  unceasingly  populous,  for 
they  will  give  strength  and  power  to  body  and 
mind,  by  giving  necessary  rest  to  the  one,  and 
necessary  exercise  to  the  other.  The  "Universal 
Xankee  Nation"  has  acquired  its  preponderance 
in  numbers,  as  well  at  home  as  among  the  settlers 
of  all  our  Western  States  and  Territories,  more 
from  this  than  any  one  other  cause. 


-A-iFiFiEiEsriDix:- 
ii. 


Although  all  the  relatives  of  Eli  Foote  were  of 
different  political  and  religious  opinions  from  those 
which  he  adopted,  and  all  his  brothers  were  active 
patriots  and  opponents  of  the  Koyal  cause,  yet 
their  brotherly  love  was  not  impaired  by  the  polit- 
ical condition  of  their  country. 

Ebenezer  Foote,  the  fourth  of  the  brothers,  im- 
bibed the  patriotic  ardor  of  the  times  with  all  the 
vigor  of  youthful  enthusiasm,  and  became  one  of 
a  party  of  similar  enthusiasts,  all  minors,  who 
left  their  parents,  guardians  and  masters,  without 
staying  to  obtain  leave ;  determined  to  show  them- 
selves men  in  action  and  patriotism  if  not  in  law. 
They  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  some 
of  them  wearing  the  "goodly  leather  aprons"  ap- 
propriate to  the  employment  which  they  left. 

He  remained  in  his  country's  service  during  the 
war,  and  attained  the  rank  of  major,  which  he 
held  at  its  termination. 

The  whole  of  his  pay  he  lost  by  the  dishonesty 
of  the  man  with  whom  he  entrusted  the  certificate 
of  the  amount  to  which  he  was  entitled. 


232  APPENDIX. 

He  married  during  the  progress  of  the  Avar,  and 
in  addition  to  his  other  losses,  sustained  that  of  the 
chief  part  of  the  property  of  his  wife,  by  the  de- 
predations of  the  skinners,  tories  and  out-laws,  on 
the  border  region  in  New  York. 

His  labors,  services  and  sacrifices  in  the  service 
of  his  country  did  not  protect  him.  from  the  de- 
nunciations of  the  Democratic  party,  by  whom 
nearly  all  of  those  disinterested  and  patriotic 
officers  who  were  his  associates,  and  who  adhered 
to  the  party  of  Washington,  were  stigmatized  as 
tories;  an  exemplification  of  party  violence  not  ex- 
celled by  that  of  any  subsequent  period  of  our 
political  history. 

The  following  communication,  published  in  the 
New  York  Commercial  of  January  7th,  1830,  gives 
an  account  of  some  of  the  sufferings  which  he 
shared,  with  many  other  American  prisoners  in 
New  York,  and  which  few  of  them  survived. 

"In  your  last  obituary  you  take  notice  of  the 
death  of  Ebenezer  Foote,  formerly  first  Judge  of 
Delaware  County.  He  was  a  man  of  excellent 
character,  and  great  good  sense,  and  was  in  the 
literal  sense  of  the  expression,  a  Eevolutionary 
Patriot.  I  was  intimate  with  him,  and  have  heard 
him  frequently  relate  the  following  incident  of  his 
life : 

"  He  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  British  at  the 
capture  of  Fort  Washington,  on  York  Island,  in 
November,  177G,  and  was  put  in  close  confinement 
in  the  building  now  called  the  Bridewell,  in  this 


APPENDIX.  233 

city.  The  severity  of  the  confinement  induced 
him,  and  eight  or  ten  of  his  companions,  to  attempt 
an  escape.  They  succeeded  in  the  night  in  get- 
ting out  undiscovered,  in  the  rear  of  the  building, 
and  were  then  in  the  fields  in  that  part  of  the  city 
lying  north  of  Chamber  street.  They  made  the 
best  of  their  way  to  the  Hudson  river  at  Green- 
wich, and  adroitly  eluded  all  the  sentinels.  After 
running  up  and  down  the  shore  they  found  a  crazy 
boat,  and  attempted  to  embark  in  it,  but  it  was 
too  old  and  leaky  to  be  navigable,  and  the  others 
went  up  the  Island,  and  were  most  of  them  re- 
taken. Mr.  Foote  found  a  plank,  and  determined 
to  cross  the  river  by  swimming,  though  it  was  in 
the  month  of  December.  It  was  a  most  danger- 
ous and  distressing  attempt.  He  was  several 
hours  in  the  water,  and  passed  undiscovered  a 
British  ship  of  war  that  was  lying  at  anchor  in 
the  river.  He  was  floated  down  by  the  tide  below 
Hoboken,  and  when  ho  landed  on  the  Jersey 
shore,  was  not  able  to  stand,  and  it  was  near  day 
light. 

He  was  enabled  after  a  while  to  crawl  up  to  a 
house,  where  he  got  refreshed,  and  completed  his 
his  escape,  but  his  constitution  received  a  shock 
from  which  it  never  recovered ;  and  this  desperate 
effort  enfeebled  his  health  through  life.  He  was, 
however,  permitted  by  Providence  to  enjoy  the 
blessings  of  prosperity  and  universal  esteem, 
through  a  long  and  busy  life:  and  I  recall  to  mind 
his  beautiful  mansion  on  the  bank  of  the  Western 
20* 


234  APPENDIX. 

branch  of  the  Delaware,  in  the  midst  of  romantic 
and  wild  scenery;  and  his  warm  hearted  and  hos- 
pitable reception  of  his  friends,  with  mingled  emo- 
tions of  tenderness  and  respect." 

A  brief  memoir  of  Ebenezer  Foote,  by  his  friend 
Gen.  Leavenworth,  was  published  soon  after  his 
death,  in  a  St.  Louis  paper.  It  was  a  well  written 
article,  honorable  alike  to  the  writer  and  the  sub- 
ject. 

His  nephew,  Samuel  E.,  ho  spoke  of  and  intro- 
duced to  his  friends  as  his  son  so  frequently  that, 
at  length,  he  apparently  forgot  their  real  relation- 
ship. 

He  was  one  of  those  gentlemen  said  to  be  "of 
the  old  school,' because  their  bearing  and  manner 
were  more  refined  than  '-modern  degeneracy  "  re- 
quires. 

He  was  many  years  a  leading  politician  in  the 
State  of  New  York ;  had  been  speaker  of  the 
House  of  Assembly,  Senator,  member  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Appointment,  and  chief  Judge  in  the  county 
in  which  he  lived. 

In  the  violent  party  struggles  of  his  time  he 
had  been  warmly  engaged,  and  consequently  had 
many  bitter  enemies  among  those  of  the  opposite 
party.  To  these,  however,  he  became  reconciled, 
and  the  leaders  of  the  Democratic  part}7 — such 
men  as  De  Witt  Clinton,  Judge  Ambrose  Spencer, 
(with  whom,  in  the  early  period  of  their  political 
career,  he  had  carried  on  a  war  of  pamphlets, 
marked,  on   each  side,  by   the   bitterness  which 


APPENDIX.  235 

characterized  political  publications  generally  at 
that  time;)  Morgan  Lewis,  the  Livingstones,  and 
other  gentlemen  of  the  old  school,  were  always 
his  guests  when  visiting  that  part  of  the  country 
in  which  he  resided.  In  a  more  advanced  period 
of  life,  it  was  pleasing  to  hear  such  men  speak  of 
him  with  warm  friendly  feelings,  contrasting  very 
strongly  with  party  bitterness  at  an  earlier  period. 
We  are  apt  at  the  present  time  to  imagine 
that  the  rancor  and  virulence  of  party  spirit  have 
increased  to  such  a  point  as  to  threaten  civil  war, 
and  dissolution  of  the  Union ;  but  the  danger  from 
this  cause  in  the  days  of  our  Fathers  was  more 
apparent.  Time  had  not  then  cemented  the 
Union,  and  they  had  not  had  sufficient  experi- 
ence of  the  curative  influence  of  the  ballot  box 
upon  political  diseases. 


APPEIsTDIX 

TO    CHAPTER   V. 
III. 


The  American  permanent  embargo  is  herein 
made  so  prominent,  and  dwelt  on  with  such  em- 
phasis, because  it  was  the  first  governmental 
measure  of  importance  which  indicated  that  the 
waves  'raised  by  the  tempest  of  the  French  revo- 
lution had  not  spent  their  force  before  reaching 
our  shores.  The  wisdom  and  patriotism  of  Wash- 
ington guarded  us  from  their  influence  during  the 
period  of  his  administration,  and  his  lessons  were 
not  forgotten  during  that  of  his  immediate  succes- 
sor. But  the  election  of  Jefferson  was  considered 
by  the  adherents  of  the  French  revolutionary 
partisans,  as  a  triumph  of  their  principles. 

And  they  had  aright,  from  many  circumstances, 
and  especially  from  his  letter  to  Mazzie,  to  con- 
sider him  a  thorough  adherent  of  the  French  re- 
volutionary philosophy.  The  embargo  was  a  fore- 
taste of  the  practical  workings  of  that  philosophy 
which,  proclaiming  "liberty  and  equality,"  was 
intended  to  destroy  all  then  existing  governments, 
and  all  authority,  including  that  of  God.  The  lead- 
ers of  the  revolution  did  not,  however,  intend  to 


APPENDIX    TO    CHAPTER    V.  237 

destroy  arbitrary,  tyrannical  power,  but  to  transfer 
it  to  themselves.  The  arch-jacobin,  Kobespierrc, 
aware  of  the  influence  of  time  in  fortifying  and 
cementing  any  system  of  government,  intended, 
says  Lerminiere,  to  produce  the  effects  of  time  by 
spilling  a  given  quantity  of  human  blood, — to  ob- 
tain the  influence  of  centuries  by  cutting  off  hu- 
man heads.*  The  tyranny  of  the  Dantons,  Robe- 
spierres,  Marats,  and  other  leaders,  was  far  greater 
than  that  of  the  Louises;  and  the  Jeifersonian 
embargo  was  a  more  oppressive  and  tyrannical 
measure  than  the  stamp  act,  or  the  plan  of  parlia- 
mentary taxation. 

But  the  shouting  of  political  watch-words  by 
the  million,  give  more  power  to  demogogues  than 
the  calm  suggestion  of  reason  and  common  sense 
can  withstand;  and  the  raising  of  liberty  poles 
with  inscriptions  of  "No  sedition  law,"  "jSTo  stamp 
act,"  "]STo  alien  law,"  gave  strength  and  stability 
to  the  Democratic  party  that  no  reverence  for 
AVashington,  and  the  prominent  patriots  of  the 
revolution,  and  no  reasoning  or  experience,  could 
overcome. 

The  paramount  evil  of  the  embargo  was  its  ty- 
rannical restriction  of  the  freedom  of  citizens.    It 


*  "  Eobespierre  concut  de  remplacer  le  temps  qui  lui  manquait  par  un 
poids  specifique  de  sang  humain  :  il  crut  en  abattant  des  tfites  se  procurer 
des  siecles;  il  tua  les  hommes  en  l'honneur  de  sa  religion  politique  ;  il  pre- 
nait  leur  sang  pour  les  convertir  :  e'etait  outrager  la  raison  autant  que  la 
charite  du  genre  humain.  II  so  trompa  en  voulant  retourner  lc  sol  avee  la 
hache  des  proscriptions :  il  n'y  a  de  fecond  que  le  fer  de  la  charruc  et  de 
i'ep£e.,,— rinfluence  de  la  Philosophic  du  XVIII  Siecle. 


238  APPENDIX    TO    CHAPTER    V. 

was  not  that  portion  of  the  surrender  of  individ- 
ual liberty  for  the  protection  of  society  from  the 
crimes  of  the  vicious,  which  is  voluntarily  made 
by  communities,  but  a  prohibition  of  a  certain 
class  of  citizens  from  pursuing  those  avocations  on 
which  they  depended  for  subsistence.  By  its  ad- 
vocates it  was  proclaimed  to  be  intended  for  the 
preservation  of  the  property  of  individuals — the 
object  of  ordinary  embargoes, — and  besides  this 
object,  that  of  annoying  European  belligerents  by 
withholding  from  them  those  supplies  of  the  pro- 
duce of  our  country  which  they  needed,  as  a  sort 
of  reprisal  for  their  acts  of  hostility  towards  our 
country. 

Most  of  the  tyrannical  restrictions  of  freedom 
in  despotic  governments,  had  their  inception  in 
the  real  or  pretended  care  of  the  rulers  for  the 
welfare  of  their  subjects.  Despotic  power  dark- 
ens the  understanding  in  relation  to  the  influence 
of  restrictive  measures,  making  the  ruler  feel  like 
Napoleon  in  the  height  of  his  power,  that  he  is  the 
State.  He  cannot  look  through  that  darkness, 
and  see  how  much  more  men  lose  by  the  privation 
of  the  free  exercise  of  their  faculties  in  lawful  en- 
terprizes,  than  they  gain  by  the  increased  security 
thereby  obtained;  and  thus  sovereigns  often  be- 
come tyrants  with  good  intentions.  Thus  subjects 
suffer  not  only  the  evils  of  direct  oppression,  but 
the  heavier  one  of  that  deterioration  of  character 
which  always  flows  from  any  restraint  of  freedom 
that  is  seen  to  be  arbitrary.     Any  law  restricting 


APPENDIX    TO    CHAPTER    V.  239 

the  freedom  of  the  citizen  so  much  as  to  be  con- 
sidered intolerable,  and  excite  evasions,  is  worse 
than  the  evil  it  is  intended  to  remedy,  and  this,  it 
has  been  seen,  was  the  character  of  the  embargo 
law.  It  was  supposed  by  many  of  its  friends  that 
it  would  avert  a  war.  Its  actual  influence  was  to 
hasten  one. 

In  saying  that  this  law  was  a  greater  evil  than 
the  war  which  followed  it,  we  spoke  of  it  political- 
ly, not  morally;  (under  which  aspect  many  con- 
siderations might  be  presented  not  ncecssaiy  to 
be  discussed  here.)  It  took  from  us  more  of  our 
most  valued  political  inheritance— freedom — than 
wo  could  afford  to  lose.  We  may  lose  any  amount 
of  our  property,  our  ships  may  Ik-  captured  or 
burnt  at  sea,  and  our  towns  may  be  bombarded 
and  deserted,  but  by  the  ^xtrcise  of  our  freedom 
of  action  in  our  accustomed  pursuits,  we  may. re- 
trieve our  losses.  But  if  we. patiently  submit  to 
arbitrary  and  tyrannical  restraints  in  our  ordina- 
ry  pursuits,  our  liberties  cannot  be  regained  until 
oppression  begets  revolution.,  ;.  If;  the  embargo 
could  have  been  enforced  according  to  iis  intent, 
and  the  principles  which  dictated,  its,  imposition, 
it  would  have  proved. a  political  opiate  to  the  na- 
tion as  destructive  as  narcotic  poisons  to  individ- 
uals. ... 

The  war  with  all  its  evils~and< early  disgraces, 
roused  that  mental  and  physical .activity  which 
characterises  the  American  people.. and  winch  the; 
misrule  of  Southern  Statesmen  hapl  a.tendency  to 


240  APPENDIX    TO    CHAPTER    V. 

suppress.  Among  a  free,  an  educated  and  intelli- 
gent people,  activity  of  mind  and  body  will  pro- 
duce those  results  that  are  seen  in  a  more  gen- 
eral diffusion  of  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  life, 
— in  a  rapid  increase  of  population,  and  in  the 
cultivation  of  good  taste  in  relation  both  to  pub- 
lic and  private  matters. 

The  predominant  influence  of  the  Slave  States, 
since  the  period  of  Jefferson's  Presidency,  accounts 
for  inany  unequal  and  tyrannical  laws.  Any  sys- 
tem of  slavery  recognized  as  a  proper  and  suitable 
institution,  is  always  at  variance  with  the  political 
freedom  of  any  class  of  the  population.  It  takes 
from  the  slave  the  best  principles  of  manhood,  and 
from  the  master  that  due  appreciation  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  justice  and  human  rights,  which  are  nec- 
essary to  the  preservation  of  political  freedom. 

Christianity,  in  proportion  as  its  influences  are 
felt  and  acknowledged,  checks  the  downward  ten- 
dency of  slavery  in  a  nation,  by  its  effects  on  the 
master  and  the  slave.  Most  masters  are  willing 
that  their  slaves  should  be  good  Christians — it  in- 
creases their  own  security,  and  the  value  of  their 
property.  The  greatest  desideratum,  however,  is 
that  the  masters  should  themselves  be  good  Chris- 
tians. 

It  is  a  question  with  many  persons  whether  it 
is  a  greater  evil  for  men  to  be  too  much  governed, 
and  thereby  enjoy  rest  and  quiet,  or  so  free  that 
societies  may  some  times  be  required  to  protect 
themselves,  or  redress  their  wrongs  by  Lynch  law, 


APPENDIX    TO    CHAPTER    V.  241 

or  committees  of  vigilance.  This  question  would 
never  have  been  mooted  with  us,  if  our  rulers  had 
been  chosen  judiciously,  and  in  conformity  with 
principles  on  which  elective  republican  govern- 
ments are  founded,  and  which  are  necessary  to  the 
highest  political  welfare  of  any  free  people. 


21 


j±  t>  J?  e  isr  id  i  ix: 

IV 


THE   SEMI-COLON    CLUB. 

There  was  no  restriction  in  the  rules  of  the  Semi- 
Colon  Club  as  to  the  subjects  offered  for  discussion. 
Poetry  and  prose  were  equally  eligible  for  the  ex- 
pressions of  opinions  on  politics  and  literature, 
manners  and  morals,  which,  together  with  any 
other  subject  that  any  member  might  choose  to 
bring  forward  for  discussion,  were  legitimate 
themes,  and  gave  opportunities  for  the  display  of 
the  tastes  and  opinions  of  the  members.  Some  of 
those  articles  which  were  published  have  been  re- 
ferred to,  and  some  others  are  here  given  as  speci- 
mens of  the  different  subjects  and  styles  of  other 
members.  Two  of  the  poetical  pieces  are  by  the 
lamented  J.  H.  Perkins,  some  of  the  others  by 
lady  members  of  the  club.  Many  excellent  arti- 
cles have  been  "lost  or  mislaid,"  some  others  have 
been  preserved  in  archives  of  the  members. 

A  renewal  of  the  operations  of  the  club  was 
proposed  several  years  after  its  dissolution,  and  a 
very  pleasant  and  characteristic  meeting  was  held 
at  the  residence  of  Mr.  Lawler,  at  which  some  ex- 


•     APPENDIX.  243 

cellent  contributions  were  read,  but  the  institution 
had  lost  with  many  of  its  valuable  members  the 
power  of  revivification. 

The  first  piece  here  given  was  one  of  the  chap- 
ters of  an  "Essay  on  Man,"  each  of  which  was 
devoted  to  a  different  subject,  and  consequently 
there  was  no  special  connection,  or  relation  of  the 
chapters  to  each  other.  The  various  topics  in 
most  of  the  other  pieces,  as  in  this,  were  tempor- 
ary in  their  character,  and  except  those  referred 
to  as  having  been  published,  have  not  been  pre- 
served. The  political  prejudices  of  the  time  are 
nearly  forgotten,  but  this  first  piece  is  a  specimen 
of  them  then. 


244  APPENDIX. 


E  S  S  A  Y    ON    MAN. 

CHAPTER     V  . 

There  was  a  time  when  it  was  considered  quite 
respectable  to  be  a  wise  man.  This,  however,  was 
a  long  time  ago. 

The  seven  wise  men  of  Greece  are  spoken  of  in 
history  as  having  been  quite  influential  and  im- 
portant characters  among  their  countrymen ;  but 
we  have  seven  foolish  men  in  the  United  States 
that  are  far  more  so. 

It  is  recorded  of  these  seven  wise  men,  that  they 
were  assembled  on  a  certain  occasion  at  a  dinner 
party,  and  after  the  cloth  was  removed,  were  en- 
joying their  wine — and  their  cigars,  would  prob- 
ably have  been  added  by  Plutarch,  if  they  had 
been  able  in  those  days  to  obtain  so  great  a  com- 
fort— but  for  cigars,  for  the  invention  of  steam- 
doctors,  and  for  Eichard  M.  Johnson,  the  world  is 
indebted  to  America,  of  which  country  those  sages 
had  never  heard. 

It  is  probable  they  felt  some  thing  was  wanting 
to  their  enjoyments,  though  they  did  not  know  it 
was  cigars.  The  consciousness  of  this  want  may 
have  led  them  to  discourse  of  happiness,  and  in 
the  course  of  the  conversation  the  following  opin- 
ions were  given  by  the  seven  wise  men,  each  of 


APPENDIX.  245 

which  we  shall  compare  with  the  known  opinions 
of  our  seven  unwise  men,  and  make  such  reflec- 
tions upon  the  subject  as  we  trust  may  tend  to 
edification. 

Solon  said  that  a  Prince  or  Sovereign  has  no 
means  of  acquiring  glory  and  happiness  so  proper 
as  by  making  his  monarchy  a  democracy. 

Senator  Y.  thinks  it  glory  enough  to  change  a 
democracy  into  a  monarchy,  and  that  there  is  no 
way  so  effective  for  this  purpose  as  to  bamboozle 
the  people  until  they  confound  the  distinctive 
principles  of  the  two  forms  of  government. 

Bias  said  the  Sovereign  should  be  the  first  to 
subject  himself  to  the  laws. 

Gen.  J.  said  very  little  about  the  matter,  and 
subjected  the  laws  to  the  Sovereign. 

Thales  said  he  considered  a  great  man  happy 
when  he  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  and  died  a  natu- 
ral death. 

Mr.  C.  thinks  a  great  man  cannot  be  happy  un- 
less he  commits  treason,  and  deserves  to  be  hanged 
before  he  arrives  at  old  age. 

Anacharsis  thought  him  a  happy  man  who  should 
be  the  only  wise  man — or  the  wisest  man — in  his 
country. 

Senator  B.  thinks  happiness  is  to  be  found  in 
making  himself  more  completely  ridiculous  than 
any  other  man  in  the  country. 

Cleobulus  said  that  a  man  to  be  happy  must  not 
place  any  confiderce  in  any  of  his  associates. 
21* 


246  APPENDIX. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  thinks  that  the 
officers  of  the  navy  are  knavish  officers,  and  ought 
not  to  have  so  much  confidence  placed  in  them  as 
to  be  trusted  out  of  sight  of  land. 

Pittacus  said  that  that  Sovereign  would  be  the 
happiest  who  should  so  conduct  himself  that  his 
people  should  fear — not  him,  but  for  him. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  happy  in  caus- 
ing the  people  to  fear — not  him,  but  his  intermin- 
able reports — not  his  dignity  and  power,  but  his 
rigmarole. 

Chilon  said  that  a  Prince  ought  not  to  think  of 
any  thing  transitory  and  temporal,  but  if  he  would 
be  happy,  must  think  of  things  eternal  and  im- 
mortal. 

The  Yice -President  would  be  happy  to  have  us 
think  he  killed  Tecumseh. 

These  opinions  will  serve  to  demonstrate  that 
although  in  a  poor  little  country  like  Greece,  they 
could  get  along  very  well  with  wise  men,  yet  it 
was  probably  because  they  were  so  poor  and  igno- 
rant that  they  knew  no  better  than  to  be  content 
with  necessaries  :  but  as  for  us,  we  have  long  been 
beyond  that  period  of  civilization.  "We  have  ar- 
rived at  that  point  when  the  most  expensive  luxu- 
ries are  most  esteemed,  and  they  are  prized  in 
proportion  to  their  cost.  Now  there  is  no  luxury 
so  costly  as  that  of  having  foolish  men  for  rulers ; 
in  which  we  have  been  indulging  ourselves  for  so 
long  a  time,  that  we  have  begun  to  discover  that. 


APPENDIX.  2-17 

in  this,  as  in  many  other  matters,  we  have  been 
too  extravagant. 

England,  an  old  and  rich  country,  can  afford  to 
have  fools  for  kings,  but  we  cannot:  we  are  be- 
coming embarrassed  by  our  extravagance  in  this 
point,  for  we  have  gone  beyond  our  models,  (as 
people  who  ape  the  extravagances  of  others  are 
apt  to  do,)  and  not  content  with  having  foolish 
men  for  chief  magistrates,  we  must  go  beyond  the 
English,  and  indulge  ourselves  in  having  foolish 
ministers  of  State  also. 

Many  people  supposed  that  the  "illustrious  pre- 
decessor" would  have  satisfied  the  utmost  desires 
of  any  people  for  this  species  of  extravagance,  but 
the  treader  in  his  footsteps  is  still  more  costly. 

It  is  generally  thought  that  we  cannot  go  farther 
in  this  course,  but  we  have  proved  in  a  former 
chapter,  that  M.  Y.  and  E.  M.  J.  are  not  the  two 
foolishest  men  in  the  country,  and  although  few 
will  agree  with  us  in  this  opinion,  yet  we  shall 
continue  to  maintain  it ;  for  we  will  not  sacrifice 
truth  to  the  vanity  of  having  it  supposed  that  we 
are  indulging  in  the  most  costly  extravagance  that 
could  possibly  be  procured,  a  foolish  vanity  that 
admits  of  no  excuse  for  its  indulgence ;  for  when 
people  make  a  great  display  of  luxuries  that  it  is 
notorious  they  cannot  afford,  it  adds  nothing  to 
their  reputation. 

The  fact  is  as  respects  us,  that  such  costly  ex- 
travagancies as  unwise  rulers,  tax  us  so  much  be- 
yond our  means,  that  we  shall  be  obliged  to  go 


24S  APPENDIX. 

back  to  the  use  of  such  jriain  wise  men  as  our 
fathers  were  contented  with :  for  to  endeavor  to 
keep  up  appearances  by  trying  one  foolish  man 
after  another,  only  adds  to  our  embarrassments, 
and  will  reduce  us  to  abject  poverty  if  we  persist 
in  it. 


N  I  A  G  AR  A. 

Troubled  waves  in  beauty  rolling 

Stately  to  the  rocky  verge ; 
And  with  solemn  voices  tolling 

Ever  your  majestic  dirge; 
Still  your  echoes  haunt  my  slumbers, 

Dreamily  around  they  float, 
Blending  still  in  spirit  numbers 

Peace  with  every  warning  note. 

Pure  and  white  your  waters  gleaming, 

Eocks  in  vain  your  course  would  stay, 
White  with  foam  in  sunlight  gleaming, 

Onward  still  ye  urge  your  wa*y ; 
To  the  dizzy  height  you're  sweeping, 

Pausing  never  on  the  brink, 
O'er  the  edge  in  grandeur  leaping, 

In  the  depths  below  ye  sink. 

Floating  soft  in  spray  to  Heaven 
Now  ye  soar  in  glittering  dew : 

But  the  sunbeams'  ray  hath  given 
To  each  drop  a  rainbow  hue ; 


APPENDIX.  249 

Trembling  now  my  heart  rejoices, 

As  I  gaze  with  awe  and  fear; 
And  the  echoing  spirit  voices 

Still  are  whispering,  "  God  is  here  ! ? 

Thus  at  night  around  my  pillow 

Still  they  chant  when  none  are  near ; 
"So  thy  life,  a  restless  billow, 

"Speedeth  to  death's  brink  with  fear, 
-Breaking  oft  on  rocks  of  sorrow, 

"Foaming  still  with  passion  tost, 
-Moaning  on  through  each  to-morrow, 

-Till  within  the  grave  'tis  lost.'" 

"Keep  thy  spirit  waves  as  purely, 

"Strong  through  suff'ring  urge  thy  way, 
"In  the  dread  abyss  securely 

"Thou  mayst  plunge,  nor  wTish  to  stay; 
"Brightly  then  in  light  ascending, 

"  Clad  in  raiment  white  as  snow, 
"Hope,  thy  tears  in  beauty  blending, 

"  O'er  thy  grave  shall  arch  her  bow." 


NEW     ENGLAND. 


Why  do  I  love  that  rocky  land. 

And  that  inclement  sky? 
I  know  alone,  I  love  it — 

And  ask  not.  care  not  xchy. 


250  APPENDIX. 

As  round  my  friends  my  feelings  twine, 
So  round  my  native  shore ; 

God  placed  the  instinct  in  my  heart, 
And  I  seek  to  know  no  more. 

Then  howl,  ye  inland  tempests, 

For  ye  lull  my  soul  to  sleep, 
And  I  think  I  hear  the  ocean  wind, 

And  the  surges  of  the  deep — 
New  England's  cold  and  leaden  clouds 

Sweep  o'er  Ohio's  sky, 
Her  frost  bound  soil  rings  to  my  tread, 

And  her  snow  goes  drifting  by. 

My  father's  bones,  New  England, 

Sleep  in  thy  hallow'd  ground; 
My  living  kin,  New  England, 

In  thy  shady  paths  are  found — 
And  though  my  body  dwelleth  here, 

And  my  weary  feet  here  roam, 
My  spirit  and  my  hopes  are  still 

In  thee,  my  own  true  home. 
March  22d,  1843.  J.  h.  p. 


HYMN. 


That  voice  which  bade  the  dead  arise, 
And  gave  back  vision  to  the  blind, 

Is  hushed,  but  when  he  sought  the  skies, 
Our  Master  left  his  word  behind. 


APPENDIX.  251 

'Twas  not  to  bid  the  ocean  roll; 

:Twas  not  to  bid  the  hill  be  riven ; 
]STo — 'twas  to  lift  the  fainting  soul, 

And  lead  the  erring  mind  to  lleav'n. 

To  heave  a  mountain  from  the  heart; 

To  bid  those  inner  springs  be  stirr'd  ; 
Lord,  to  thy  servant  here  impart 

The  quickening  wisdom  of  that  word. 

Dwell,  Father,  round  this  earthly  fane, 
And  when  its  feeble  walls  decay, 

Be  with  us  as  we  meet  again 
Within  thy  halls  of  endless  day. 

J.  H.  p. 


A  LAY  SEUMOX. 

"  Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field."— Matt.  ch.  8th,  part  of  v.  2(3. 

In  this  age  and  country  in  which  the  principles 
of  Utilitarianism  are  too  prevalent  for  the  general 
good  of  society,  there  is  a  peculiar  fitness  and  pro- 
priety in  calling  your  attention  to  this  precept  of 
the  author  of  our  holy  religion.  As  it  is  the  part 
of  duty  to  yield  implicit  and  unhesitating  obedi- 
ence to  all  the  commands  of  our  gracious  Redeemer. 
so  it  is  the  part  of  wisdom  to  enquire  into  the 
reasons  and  influences  of  those  commands;  for 
thus  shall  we  strengthen  our  faith,  increase  our 
hope,  and  extend  our  charity. 


252  APPENDIX. 

Flowers  are  among  those  common  bounties  of 
our  beneficent  creator,  bestowed  upon  his  rational 
creatures,  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the  happi- 
ness of  them  all ;  for  like  air  and  water  they  are 
accessible  to  all;  and  they  cannot  be  neglected 
without  producing  some  of  those  evils,  which  a 
neglect  of  any  of  the  common  and  universal  bless- 
ings, bestowed  on  us  by  our  Maker,  always  occa- 
sions. Amid  the  toils,  the  cares,  and  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  life,  the  heart  is  liable  to  become  hard- 
ened, and  the  feelings  callous,  unless  the  softening 
and  refining  influence  of  objects  of  beauty  and 
humility  be  frequently  presented  to  the  senses — 
objects  which,  like  the  flowers  of  the  field,  in  the 
voiceless  language  of  angels,  reprove  with  gentle- 
ness and  sweetness  the  selfish  and  evil  passions  of 
our  nature,  and  call  upon  us  for  gratitude  and 
thanksgiving  to  Him  who  clothes  the  lilies  of  the 
field  with  splendor  exceeding  that  of  Solomon  in 
all  his  2;lorv,  and  who  has  assured  us  that  his  care 
for  us  is  in  proportion  to  our  superiority  to  these 
fading  and  transitory  flowers. 

When  we  are  overcome  by  distress  and  sorrow : 
when  affliction  bows  our  heads  to  the  dust,  these 
simple,  humble  ministers  of  consolation  meet  our 
view,  and  teach  us  that  as  they  have  arisen  from 
the  dust  in  beauty  and  fragrance,  so  shall  we  be 
raised  from  our  weakness  and  depression,  in  power 
and  glory,  if  we  obey  the  commands  of  our  Heav- 
enly Father,  and  place  our  trust  in  Him  alone. 


APPENDIX.  253 

Pride,  ambition,  and  covetousness.  when  they 
take  possession  of  the  heart,  expel  from  it  the  de- 
sire for  those  pure  and  simple  gratifications  which 
spring  from  a  love  of  the  beautiful  in  nature;  and 
in  the  same  proportion  they  expel  happiness. 

The  statesman  and  the  warrior  do  not  "Con- 
sider the  lilies  of  the  field.''  and  they  never  enjoy 
happiness  during  their  career  of  intrigue  or  blood, 
but  if  their  hearts  be  not  entirely  hardened  and 
corrupt,  they  may,  perchance,  be  awakened  to  a 
new  course  of  life,  and  be  swayed  by  gentler  im- 
pulses, then — like  the  patriot  Kosciusko,  the  lat- 
ter years  of  whose  life  were  devoted  exclusively 
to  acts  of  humanity  and  benevolence,  and  whose 
greatest  pleasure  was  in  considering  the  flowers 
of  the  field — for.  says  his  biographer,  whether  in 
winter  or  summer,  he  was  never  without  his  flow- 
ers — like  him,  they  ma}-  be  good  as  they  have 
been  great — like  him,  if  they  be  so,  they  will  also 
.love  flowers,  and  will  increase  the  happiness  of 
their  fellow  creatures. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  precept  in  our  text  is,  like 
all  the  precepts  of  our  Savior,  calculated  to  in- 
crease the  sum  of  human  happiness:  and  it  is  ex- 
pressed in  such  clear  and  unequivocal  terms,  that 
we  can  scarcely  call  him  a  Christian  who  neglects 
the  cultivation  of  flowers — who  refuses  to  "Con- 
sider the  lilies  of  the  field." 


OO 


254  APPENDIX. 


Y  L  O  W  E  R  8  . 

There  is  do  place 

In  this  world  of  ours, 
Where  ye  come  not  with  grace 

Fair  flowers  !  sweet  flowers  ! 

Your  beauty  is  dear  to  the  eyes  that  weep, 
\nd  without  you  who  would  a  festival  keep  ? 
To  the   hero's    proud    triumph,  the   path  of  the 

bride, 
Oh  what  could  atone  for  your  presence  denied. 

With  what  perfect  bliss 

The  wandering  child 
Doth  merrily  kiss 

Your  petals  wild  ! 

And    affection  would   wish    that   your  hues,  fair 

flowers, 
Might  betoken  the  joys  of  his  future  hours  ! 
On  the  bier  ye  are  laid — of  sweet  hopes  to  tell, 
And  oh  how  can  ye  light  up  the  captive's  coll ! 

And  where  is  the  prize 

Like  your  fragrant  bloom. 
To  the  darkened  eyes 

In  the  dull  sick  room  ? 


APPENDIX.  255 

What  gleams  do  ye  bring  from  days  that  are  gone, 
To  bid  the  faint  spirit  live  happily  on. 
It  might  almost  seem  that  your  eloquent  breath 
Could  call  the  life  back  to  the  pillow  of  death. 

As  the  radiance  bright, 

In  the  tents  of  the  sun, 
When  he  resteth  at  night, 

When  his  course  is  run, 

So  are  ye  to  our  toiling  and  work-a-day  rac< 
A  vision  of  beauty  and  glory  and  grace ; 
If  e:er  for  you,  love  be  lost  in  the  world, 
May  the  recreant  planet  to  atoms  be  hurled  ! 
But  may  blessings   of  friendship,  of  joy  and  of 

mirth, 
Best  on  all  your  true  lovers,  ye  gems  of  the  earth. 


BABIES. 

•'  I  heard  a  voice  cry,  'sleep  no  more,' 

Again  it  cried — 'sleep  no  more' — to  all  the  house.'' 

Macbeth",  (new  reading.) 

Dear  Semi-Colons,  I  want  some  help,  advice. 
and  consolation. 

I  am  a  bachelor — not  by  any  means  an  old  one 
— but  just  in  my  prime — past  the  greenness  and 
folly  of  youth,  not  feeling  at  all  the  weakness  and 
infirmity  of  age,  but  arrived  at  years  of  sobriety 
and  discretion,  and  know  a  thing  or  two.     But 


25()  APPENDIX. 

here  is  one  thing,  or  rather  set  of  things,  which  I 
do  not  know  about ;  or  rather,  I  should  say,  under- 
stand; for  I  know  too  much  about  them. 

Babies  !  At  my  boarding  house  there  is  a  young* 
couple  whose  room  is  next  mine,  and  they  have  a 
baby,  the  delight  of  their  hearts,  but  the  destroyer 
of  my  rest.  I  suppose  it  is  colic ;  but  no  one 
would  suppose  that  any  thing  short  of  red-hot 
pincers  could  draw  such  cries  from  human  lungs. 
The  amount  of  solid  noise  that  child  can  manu- 
facture in  one  night  is  absolutely  incredible.  I 
come  home  at  night ;  everything  is  quiet ;  I  go  to 
bed  with  the  pleasant  anticipation  of  enjoying* 
that  sound,  refreshing  sleep  that  ever  attends  on 
a  good  conscience  and  a  sound  digestion.  Pres- 
ently I  dream  horrible  dreams.  I  am  in  the  dun- 
geon of  the  Inquisition,  and  the  shrieks  and 
screams  of  the  unhappy  victims  fall  on  my  ear 
with  frightful  distinctness.  Or  I  am  a  captive 
among  the  Indians — my  comrades  being  slowly 
tortured  before  my  eyes  while  I  wait  my  turn. 
Finally  I  awake  and  still  hear  the  dreadful  yells, 
and  find  it  is  that  baby !  that  blessed  Baby ! 
Then  for  the  space  of  about  an  hour  there  is  a  suc- 
cession of  ear-piercing  shrieks  and  demoniac  yells 
as  of  an  insane  locomotive  in  the  next  room. 
Then  comes  a  lull — and  just  as  I  am  dropping  off 
to  sleep,  congratulating  myself  that  there  is  a  limit- 
to  every  thing,  even  the  powers  of  that  child's 
lungs,  the  uproar  is  renewed  with  double  force 
and.  fury,  as  though  the  little  wretch  had  merely 


APPENDIX.  257 

been  getting  an  increase  of  strength  and  vicious- 
ness  during  the  temporary  pause.  It  is  a  perfect 
cataract  of  cries,  a  tornado  of  yells,  an  avalanche 
of  shrieks,  all  at  once,  and  I  am  deafened,  stunned 
and  stupitied,  and  so  lie  and  wish  for  day.  That 
ehild  has  converted  me  to  the  doctrine  of  infant 
damnation ;  for  certainly  there  never  could  be 
silence  in  heaven  for  the  space  of  half  an  hour  if 
a  baby  was  there.  Yet  these  parents,  these  infat- 
uated parents,  actually  seem  to  take  great  comfort 
in  the  little  savage,  and  talk  about  it  with  the  ut- 
most complacency,  and  say  its  a  dear,  sweet,  love- 
ly, amiable  child,  except  it  has  a  little  colic  now 
and  then.  Little  colic!  now  and  then!  Great 
Heaven!  I  sit  and  stare  at  them  in  dumb  aston- 
ishment, and  they  are  in  other  respects  intelligent, 
well  informed  people.  And  what  still  more  as- 
tonishes, and  I  may  say  alarms  me,  is,  that  I  have 
reason  to  believe  that  other  people  are  just  as  blind 
with  regard  to  their  babies  ;  it  seems  to  be  a  sort 
of  epidemic  monomania.  They  call  them  angels, 
cherubs  ;  when  they  do  not  in  the  slightest  degree 
resemble  anything  angelic,  except  that  like  the 
cherubim  and  seraphim  they  "continually  do  cry;" 
and  moreover  there  is  this  fundamental  difference 
between  cherubs  and  babies,  that  whereas  the 
former,  according  to  all  writers  on  the  subject, 
have  no  place  for  the  proper  application  of  Solo- 
mon's antiseptic,  the  latter  by  a  wise  dispensation 
of  Providence  are  well  supplied  in  that  particular, 
and  nature  herself  seems  to  enjoin  us  not  to  neg- 
22* 


258  APPENDIX. 

lect  the  opportunity  offered.  But  parents  whose 
opportunities  are  greatest  for  availing  themselves 
of  such  facilities,  seem  to  think  of  every  other 
duty  but  that. 

But  what  is  to  be  done?  Babies,  to  a  certain 
extent,  are  necessary  no  doubt,  and  have  their 
uses;  but  is  it  absolutely  essential  that  there 
should  be  so  many  of  them,  and  that  they  should 
be  so  omnipresent  ?  Can't  they  be  put  somewhere 
at  least  until  they  are  old  enough  to  go  to  parties, 
and  consume  cotton,  crinoline,  and  tobacco.  They 
are  bad  enough  then — but  before,  intolerable.  If 
they  can't  be  put  somewhere,  can't  I  ?  The  dis- 
coverer of  a  remedy  for  this  crying  evil  will  be  de- 
servedly ranked  by  posterity  with  Fulton,  Colum- 
bus, Galileo,  King  Herod,  and  other  discoverers 
inventors,  philanthropists-,  and  benefactors  of  man- 
kind. 


The  humble  petition  of  the  editors  of  the  Cin 
cinnati  Chronicle  and  the  Illinois  Monthly  Maga- 
zine, to  the  Semi- Colons. 

Fair  and  gentle  Semi-Colons, 
Bright  as  Hebe,  wise  as  Solons, 
Famed  for  beauty,  wit  and  learning, 
Jeux  d' esprit,  and  deep  discerning, 
Secret,  social  coalition — 
Listen  to  our  poor  petition. 


APPENDIX.  259 

Listen,  laughing,  lovely  woman, 
Famed  for  pointed  quick  acumen, 
Critics  hear  whose  sterner  ken, 
Walker  yclept  ac-umen, — 
Semi-Colons,  one  and  all, 
Hear  the  prayer  of  Drake  and  Hall ! 

Each  whose  footstep  hither  tends, 
Philosophic  forty  friends, 
•'Favored  and  enlightened  few,-' 
Champions  of  the  stocking  blue, 
For  your  own,  your  country's  sake, 
List,  oh,  list  to  Hall  and  Drake! 

Thinking  man  or  thoughtless  blade, 
Matron  wise  or  blushing  maid, 
Samuel  Essence,  Cherubina, 
Oh,  for  honied  words  to  win  ye! 
Long,  too  long  your  inspirations, 
Like  some  misty  exhalations, 
In  the  lonely  mountain  glen. 
Shunning  every  human  ken, 
Have  distilled  in  gentle  showers, 
On  a  few  secluded  flowers. 

AVe  would  sec  those  treasures  rise 
Boldly  up  to  mortal  eyes ; 
Like  the  clouds,  in  grandeur  sail, 
O'er  the  mountain,  o'er  the  vale, 
Decked  with  beaut3r,  clothed  in  light, 
Touched  with  colors  dark  and  bright, 


260  APPENDIX. 

Flashing  meteors  o'er  the  sky, 
Giving  rainbows  to  the  eye, 
Darting  outward  as  they  roll, 
Streams  of  wit,  from  pole  to  pole. 

We  suggest,  (to  change  the  figure — 
And  we  urge  the  point  with  vigor,) 
That  ye  act  the  part  of  churls, 
Witty  men  and  pretty  girls, 
Thus  to  light  the  torch  of  pleasure, 
And  to  hide  it  in  a  measure. 
Thus  ye  act  like  him  who  lingers. 
Moping  o'er  a  glowing  grate, 
Thawing  out  his  own  cold  fingers. 
Leaving  others  to  their  fate. 

Gentle  demi-Semi-Colons, 
Thus  ye  lock  up  nolens  volens, 
Wisdom's  fire,  Genius'  taper, 
Thoughts  that  boil  like  steamy  vapor, 
Bachelor's  groan  and  beauty's  sigh, 
(Meet  repast  for  critic's  eye,) 
Caleb  Comma's  work  of  art, 
Pithy  things  from  spry  Joe  Dart ; 
Pleasant  fancies — all  your  treasure 
Hide  ye  thus  beneath  a  measure. 

We,  like  knights  of  famed  romance, 
Fain  would  couch  the  quivering  lance; 
We  would  slay  the  giant  guard, 
Who  keeps  nightly  watch  and  ward 


ArPENDIX.  2G1 

Over  mind,  and  over  beauty. 

Like  a  sentinel  on  duty. 

We  would  throw  the  portals  wide, 

See  the  fetters  all  untied  ; 

Till  Semi-Colon  thoughts  should  fly, 

Like  comets  through  the  darkened  sky. 

Plainly  to  speak — we  edit  papers ; 
Our  readers  all  have  got  the  vapors, 
We've  grown  so  dull  of  late,  we  scare 
Can  round  a  period,  pen  a  verse ; 
Xor  knew  we  why  that  we,  who  once 
Were  neither  of  us,  quite  a  dunce, 
Beheld  our  pages  thus  become, 
So  melancholy  and  hum-drum  ; 
Until  we  found  that  you,  dear  friends, 
Had  crossed  our  purposes  and  ends, 
By  hoarding  uj:>,  like  pirate's  booty, 
All  the  wit,  and  all  the  beauty. 

Give,  oh,  give  us  then  the  book ; 
Think  how  fine  we  all  shall  look, 
Chronicled  in  goodly  pages, 
Mingled  up  with  saints  and  sages. 
Think  how  all  the  world  would  stare, 
Seeing  Semi-Colons  there; 
How  they'll  wonder,  how  enquire, 
How  they'll  guess,  and  how  admire ! 
And  Semi-Colons,  through  the  nation, 
Meet  with  notes  of  admiration  ! ! 


2H2  APPENDIX. 


HOW  TO  OBSERVE. 


An  Englishman  passing  down  Pali  Mall,  found 
another  man's  hand  in  his  pocket.  This  was  a 
phenomenon.  Strange  hand  in  his  pocket!  It 
occured  to  him  that  the  fellow  had  intentions,  and 
turnin°\  he  asked  him  frankly  if  he  did  not  in- 
tend  to  pick  his  pocket,  and  if  he  did,  to  tell  him, 
as  a  friend,  what  he  had  seen  particularly  soft  or 
foolish  in  his  countenance  that  had  led  to  his  be- 
ing selected  as  a  fit  subject  for  the  enterprise. 
Such  frankness  required  a  return,  and  the  fellow 
in  reply,  with  many  apologies  for  his  mistake,  told 
him  that  as  to  the  matter  of  his  countenance,  that 
was  well  enough,  but  he  had  noticed  that  he  wore 
white  cotton  socks,  and  thin  shoes  of  a  wet  day,  and 
had  thought  from  that  that  the  thing  could  be  done 
upon  him.  The  thief  was  evidently  a  philosopher, 
and  a  man  of  genius.  All  people  will  fail  some 
times.  He  failed  here,  but  it  wasn't  his  fault.  He 
should  have  succeeded.  Every  one  will  allow  that 
on  the  premises  the  mans  pocket  ought  to  have 
been  picked  with  the  most  triumphant  success. 

The  world  is  censorious.  An  undiscriminating 
crowd  would  not  appreciate  the  brilliant  qualities 
thus  displayed — they  wouldn't  know  how  to  observe. 
They  probably  hooted  and  yelled,  and  insisted  on 
escorting  the  fellow  to  prison.  And  the  artisticai 
merit — the  show  of  genius  that  would  have  graced 
any  brotherhood  of  choice  jolly  spirits  for  the  pro- 


APPENDIX.  •HV.) 

moting  of  thievery  on  genteel  principles,  meets 
with  a  premature  fate  on  the  rounds  of  a  tread- 
mill.    This  is  harrowing. 

But  this  isn't  half  so  bad  as  another  ease,  which 
has  long  been  weighing  on  my  mind,  and  which  1 
will  take  this  occasion  of  relieving  my  feelings  bv 
commemorating.  When  will  the  world  learn  to 
be  just?  I  will  not  say  generous,  but  simply  just. 
Now  I  know  not  if  any  instinctive  sense  of  in- 
justice  in  the  bosoms  of  any  here  present  will  lead 
them  to  conjecture  to  what  object  I  allude — but  I 
anticipate  that  it  will.  It  is  the  much  abused — 
meekl y  suffering  Quack — that  important  personage 
in  the  modern  social  eeonomv.  Every  age  is  distin- 
guished  for  some  thing.  In  one  it  is  the  mariner's 
compass.  In  another  the  art  of  printing.  In  an- 
other it  is  the  great  plague.  In  another  the  fun 
that  was  had  in  burning  heretics.  In  another 
the  similar  amusement  in  doing  the  same  thing 
for  the  orthodox.  In  another  the  long-peaked 
shoes.  Our  own  is  the  age  of  Dr.  Brandreth,  Dick- 
ens, aud  the  Vegetable  Indian  Balsam. 

Witness  the  philanthropy  of  the  Quack.  l)r. 
So  and  So's  "real  blessing,"  for  every  bodv.  is  to 
be  had  every  where,  by  the  gross,  dozen,  or  single 
box.  What  a  gratifying  assurance!  Good,  kind 
Dr.  So  and  So  !     Almost  a  perfect  sugar  1 

But.  as  I  said  before,  the  world  is  a  censorious 
world.  The  order  is  misrepresented.  "Sir,"  said 
Dr.  Brandreth  to  me,  the  other  dav.  in  the  course  of 
a  familiar  conversation  we  had  together.  "people 


264  APPENDIX. 

don't  appreciate  us — the  fact  is,  sir,  they  haven't 
learnt  how  to  observe.  The  age  is  a  superficial 
one.  It  doesn't  examine.  It  doesn't  plunge,  sir  ! 
Thus  we  are  not  understood.  A  Quack — what  is 
a  Quack  ?  He  may  be  called  a  biped  who  consults 
the  wants ,  tastes,  and  feelings  of  the  community. 
He  is  an  adaptative  animal.  He  is  a'  philosopher, 
for  he  knows  that  Quackery  goes  down — that  peo- 
ple have  a  natural  taste  for  it.  Dont  it?  Follow 
my  nine  and  a  half  a  million  of  boxes  of  the  gen- 
uine article  that  have  gone  off  within  the  last  five 
years,  and  then  say.  This  I  call  aptitude.  It  is 
more — it  is  philosophy,  taste,  science,  poetry,  and 
genius ! 

"  Sir,  a  man  down  South  advertised  that  he  had 
beat  me.  He  said  he  could  rejuvenesce  old  age. 
That  I  could  do  too.  But  he  went  farther.  He 
said  he  could  make  a  young  man  out  of  an  old  one, 
and  have  enough  left  for  a  little  dog  besides.  But 
I  tried  him,  and  he  couldn't  do  it.  The  little  dog 
teas  a  failure.  He  had  some  left,  but  not  enough 
for  an  ordinary  sized  kitten.  I  published  him  the 
next  day — and  also  an  advertisement  of  Brand- 
reth's  Pills. 

"  The  great  merit  of  our  system  is  the  quiet  and 
order  with  which  everything  is  done.  The  sys- 
tern  of  tooling  in  all  its  branches  we  have  nothing 
to  do  with.  Other  men  mav  use  the  knife  and 
dagger,  but  we  avoid  them.  We  operate  with 
more  precision,  science  and  system.  Neat— but 
effective. 


APPENDIX.  2»)T) 

"What  then  to  the  Quack  are  triumphs,  proces- 
sions, pomps  and  vain-gloryings?  Conscious  of  his 
own  merit,  he  does  not  need  them.  He  works  not 
for  temporal  honors.  Like  Augustus,  he  is  satis- 
tied  with  the  suhstance  without  the  show  of  power. 
He  declines  an  ovation  that  might  be  garnished 
with  the  endless  processions,  of  the  vanquished 
and  the  spoils  of  victory.  Through  persecution 
and  scoffing  he  meekly  exclaims  with  the  great 
and  virtuous  Iago,  "  Work  on,  my  medicine, 
work!" 

:' Consider  the  names  that  have  borne  the  title. 
A  distinguished  Ex-President  has  been  designated 
(but  by  the  uninitiated)  as  a  Quack.  A  Mr.  C. 
once  wrote  of  him  that  'he  was  a  man  whom, 
whatever  other  qualities  he  might  have,  posterity 
would  not  fail  to  set  down  as  a  great  financial 
Quack.'  Now  if  posterity  do  any  thing  of  this 
sort,  they  will  be  doing  a  very  inconsiderate  sort 
of  thing.  It  pertains  to  the  perfection  of  the 
character,  that  it  should  never  have  been  contam- 
inated by  the  taint  of  a  Literary  Institution.  This 
gentleman  was  L.  L.  D.;d  at  Cambridge,  and,  of 
course,  incapacitated.  But  that,  in  spite  of  this, 
he  was  designated  for  the  honor  first  alluded  to. 
only  shows  how  eminently  worthy  in  other  re- 
spects he  was  considered  for  it. 

"It  is  a  matter  of  pride."  continued  Dr.  B.,  "that 
this,  our  order,  is  only  of  modern  growth.      It    is 
only  under  the  illumination  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury that  it  could  nourish.     Columbus  was  three 
23 


2(56  APPENDIX. 

centuries  in  advance  of  us.  He  opened  a  new 
world  to  Europe.  We  open  a  new  world  to  every 
body — and  a  very  distant  one.  In  fact,  people  that 
go  sometimes  don't  come  back.'' 

Dr.  B.  paused.  He  was  just  getting  animated. 
A  pleasant  flush  was  overspreading  his  counten- 
ance, and  lie  was  preparing  to  resume,  when  a 
man  called  who  had  a  broken  leg  cured  by  setting 
it  so  that  it  stuck  out  at  right  angles  with  his 
body,  and  wished  for  some  of  the  "  universal  pan- 
acea," to  set  it  right  again.  The  doctor  went  to 
work  putting  up  sixteen  gross  of  boxes  of  his 
pills  for  him,  and  I  reluctantly  went  my  way, 
deeply  impressed  with  the  views  he  had  presented. 


LETTER   FPvOM  OKE  WHO  KNOWS  "HOW 

TO  OBSERVE." 

Cincinnati,  February  20th,  1843. 
i  still  date,  as  you  see,  from  the  Queen  City, 
where  I  have  been  detained  quite  beyond  my  ex- 
pectations, owing  to  the  suspension  of  navigation. 
For  several  days  the  river  was  obstructed  by  float- 
ing ice,  then  it  began  to  rain  in  torrents,  swelling 
all  the  tributaries,  which  came  pouring  their  mud- 
dy currents  into  the  Ohio,  till  the  water  became 
so  thick  that  no  boat  could  possibly  get  through 
it.  You  have  no  idea  of  the  turbidness  of  this 
famous  river.  It  is  as  near  the  consistence  of  their 
hasty  pudding  as  any  thing,  and  I  am  told  at  some 


APPENDIX.  267 

seasons   they   eat   it   with   a  spoon.      The   very 
thought  of  it  almost  chokes  me.     What  do  you 
suppose  they  call  this  river  ?    "  The  drink."    There 
never  was  a  greater  misnomer.     The  food,  would 
have  been  much  more  appropriate.     As  we  were 
coming  down  from  Pittsburg,  the  steward  took  the 
cook's  boy  to  the  side  of  the  boat,  and  told  him  if 
he  didn't  behave  himself  he'd  "spill  him  into  the 
drink."     I  could  not  but  smile  at  the  singularity 
of  the  expression,  though  I  was  very  much  terri- 
fied lest  he  should  carry  his  threat  into  execution ; 
for  they  say  it 's  very  common  for  the  captain  to 
throw  the  hands,  or   even  the  passengers,  over 
board  in  case  of  any  difficulty.     I  can  assure  you 
I  minded  my  P.s  and  Q.s,  and  took  off  my  hat  to 
the  captain  as  deferentially  as  though  he  had  been 
the  Emperor  Nicholas,  for  the  thought  of  being- 
plunged  headlong  into  such  a  mud  puddle  was  ab- 
solutely suffocating.     I  would  as  lief  be  drowned 
in  a  soft  custard.     I  am  credibly  informed,  how- 
ever, it  is  considerably  thinner  in  summer,  so  that 
when  diluted  with  rain  water  or  brandy,  it  is  quite 
palatable.      Indeed,  most  of  the  Buckeyes,   and 
some  of  the  New  Englanders  affected  to  like  it  as 
it  is;  even  giving  it  the  preference  to  the  cold, 
limpid  springs  of  their  own  native  homo.     But 
there's  no  accounting  for  fancies,  as  the  man  said 
to  his  wife,  who  imagined  herself  a  powder  maga- 
zine, and  was  mad  because  she  couldn't  blow  him 
up. 


2f)S  APPENDIX . 

I  am  very  anxious  to  get  away  from  here  I 
assure  you.  They  call  it  the  "Queen  City;"  but 
for  what  reason  I  cannot  imagine,  for  its  the  most 
democratic  place  I  ever  saw.  There's  no  defer- 
ence paid  to  rank  whatever.  If  the  great  Mogul 
himself,  or  any  of  the  family  of  gulls  were  to  visit 
here,  the}7  could  only  receive  common  civilities. 
The  principle  of  democracy  seems  to  extend  even 
into  family  government,  so  that  children  contend 
that  the  majority  should  govern,  and  they  (being 
in  most  cases  a  very  large  majority,)  hold  a  pretty 
tight  rein  over  their  parents,  manifesting  no  more 
respect  for  their  seniors  than  they  do  for  themselves, 
which  is  very  little.  A  man  who  lives  in  a  small 
tenement,  in  an  obscure  street,  considers  himself 
on  an  equality  with  the  proprietor  of  a  splendid 
mansion,  and  were  it  not  for  the  Dutch,  who  bring 
with  them  the  polish  and  refinement  incidental  to 
a  monarchical  government,  the  manners  of  the 
people  would  soon  degenerate  into  a  coarse,  vulgar 
freedom,  which  would  be  quite  intolerable. 

In  one  particular,  however,  Cincinnati  bears  the 
palm  over  all  other  cities  in  the  world.  It  is  the 
greatest  piggery  in  creation.  You  know  there  is  a 
population  here  of  about  fifty  thousand,  but  the 
greatest  proportion  of  these  are  within  doors.  Just 
suppose  them  all  in  the  streets  together,  men,  wto- 
men,  and  children;  and  they  would  (to  use  a  very 
common  expression  here,)  make  a  pretty  tall  crowd. 
Imagine  then  a  population  of  230,000  hogs,  which 
is  the  number  supposed  to  have  been  killed  this 


APPENDIX.  200 

winter,  and  which,  of  course,  must  have  lived  here, 
and  remember  they  all  live  out  of  doors,  and  you 
can  form  some  idea  of  the  consternation  a  stranger 
feels  in  being  thrown,  for  the  first  time,  in  such 
an  extensive  four-legged  society.  I  have  myself 
seen  the  streets  so  thronged  with  this  privileged 
order  that  horses  and  carriages  were  arrested  in 
their  progress,  till  the  slow  moving  procession 
should  pass  by.  But  though  respected  in  life,  they 
all  meet  with  a  violent  and  ignominious  death,  the 
details  of  which  would,  I  fear,  prove  too  much  for 
your  sensitive  nature,  I  therefore  forbear.  Suffice 
it  to  say,  they  are  often  promenading  the  streets 
in  the  morning,  offending  the  sight  of  the  fastidi- 
ous, and  at  night  they  are  tickling  the  palate  of 
the  same  fastidious  ones  in  the  form  of  sausages, 
But  I  must  bring  my  letter  to  a  close.  If  I  should 
be  detained  much  longer  I  may  write  }tou  again. 
I  should  take  the  stage  for  Wheeling,  but  I  am 
told  the  roads  are  nearly  as  muddy  as  the  river. 


AVe  cis-montanes,  as  a  well  known  Colonel  in 
town  would  call  us,  are  a  great  people.  AVe  over- 
shadow the  whole  world  as  the  Cedars  of  Lebanon 
overshadowed  the  brambles  under  them,  "and  all 
that  sort  of  thing."  We  do  every  thing  better 
than  any  nation  under  the  high  sun.  AVe  see 
more,  hear  more,  and  more  wonderful  things  hap- 
pen to  us.  Now,  for  instance,  when  Ned.  Hughes 
21* 


27G  APPENDIX. 

came  back  from  Home,  what  could  rival  his  story 
about  the  procession  of  priests  at  Candlemas? 
"Yes,"  said  Ned., "  there  were  five  thousand  priests, 
each  bearing  a  lighted  candle  in  his  hand."  "Five 
thousand  priests  !  "  said  his  brother  Peter,  with 
an  air  of  doubt.  "  Yes,  sir,  and  every  candle  was 
as  big  as  the  pillars  in  front  of  Dr.  Beecher's 
church,  and  fluted  from  top  to  bottom,  by  George, 
sir!"     Ned.  was  born  out  at  Hamilton. 

But  speaking  of  candles  reminds  me  of  Judge 
B.,  of  Western  Pennsylvania.  Now  the  Judge 
must  be  allowed  to  tell  his  adventures  in  his  own 
way  or  he  wouldn't  tell  them  at  all.  If  his  facts 
didn't  hang  well  together,  why,  that  was  their 
lookout — not  his — he  did  all  he  could  for  them. 
"One  day,"  said  the  Judge,  "the  men  Avere  going 
out  to  the  harvest  field  after  dinner,  and  one  of 
them  had  a  colt  that  he  was  trying  to  break  to  the 
saddle.  He  couldn't  manage  him,  and  I  got  on 
him  to  try  what  I  could  do.  Well,  gentlemen, 
will  you  believe  me,  that  colt  threw  me  over  his 
head  thirty-four  yards  and  a  half — we  measured 
it  afterwards.  And  if  it  hadn't  been  that  there 
was  a  foot  of  snow  on  the  ground,  the  fall  would 
have  broken  my  neck."  "But  Judge,"  said  one 
sitting  by,  "  I  thought  you  said  it  was  in  the  har- 
vest field."  "Did  I?"  said  the  Judge,  as  he 
turned  slowly  in  his  chair,  and  gave  the  fact  lover 
a  look  that  was  enough  to  drill  gimblet  holes 
through  him — "no,  sir,  I'll  be  d — d  if  I  did."  The 
doubter  declined  joining  issue. 


APPENDIX.  271 

But  speaking  of  colts  reminds  mc  of  music. 
Now  Jack  Jones  teas  a  good  musician :  he  played 
on  the  piano  admirably.  But  the  strangest  things 
would  keep  happening  to  Jack,  and  Jack  would  tell 
them.  We  were  all  gathered  round  a  blazing  fire 
one  afternoon,  each  behind  a  sixpence  worth  of 
good  tobacco,  and  sending  forth  volumes  of  smoke, 
when  Jack  got  on  to  a  remarkably  tough  one. 
"When  I  was  out  in  "Wisconsin,"  he  began,  "and 
you  know  that  snakes  are  rather  too  plenty  there 
for  comfort.  The  summer  rains  had  come  on ;  and 
I  was  kept  in  a  miserable  little  log  cabin  for  a 
whole  week,  with  nothing  on  earth  to  do  to  pass 
away  the  time.  Well,  one  morning  I  Avent  into  the 
drawing  room  and  sat  down  at  the  piano — a  first 
rate  Vienna  instrument,  by  the  way — to  amuse 
myself.  I  thought  that  I  heard  a  strange  kind  of 
noise  every  now  and  then,  but  didn't  mind  it 
much.  Well,  I  hadn't  been  playing  much  more 
than  half  an  hour  when  I  happened  to  turn  round, 
and  there  was  the  biggest  rattle  snake  I  ever  saw, 
coiled  through  the  back  of  the  chair,  and  looking 
over  my  left  shoulder,  right  into  the  music  book. 
There  he  was:  licking  his  lips  and  picking  his 
teeth  with  his  tongue  every  minute,  as  if  he  had 
just  come  from  dining  with  an  alderman.  And  a 
beautiful  audience  he  was  for  a  modest  amateur 
who  had  never  given  exhibitions  to  a  promiscuous 
assemblage  in  his  life  before.  Well,  gentlemen,  I 
saw  how  it  was  going  to  be.  I  knew  if  I  stopped, 
or  made  one  false  note,  the  varmint  would  bite  me 


'll'l  APPENDIX. 

sure.  So,  on  I  went,  with  that  pestiferous  reptile 
hanging  over  my  shoulder,  and  blowing  his  infer- 
nal breath  into  my  ear,  and  played  every  thing  I 
ever  knew  or  heard  of,  and  when  I  was  done,  I 
])layed  'em  all  over  again."  "Well,  how  did  you 
get  away  at  last,  Jack?"  interrupted  some  one 
through  the  smoke.  "  Why,  I'll  just  tell  you  how 
it  happened.  The  snake  was  keeping  time  all 
along  with  his  rattles :  and  by-and-by  he  got  to 
doing  it  pretty  well.  He  made  use  of  his  big  rat- 
tles for  the  bass,  and  the  little  ones  at  the  end  of 
his  tail  for  the  high  notes.  I  saw  it  kind  of  puz- 
zled him  to  manage  some  of  the  passages:  and 
when  I  got  to  putting  in  my  big  licks  in  the  high 
parts  of  Xorma,  I  got,  of  course,  clear  down  to 
the  end  of  the  treble  keys.  I  kept  one  eye  on  the 
snake,  and  t'other  on  the  door;  and  suddenly, 
when  I  was  farthest  away  from  him,  kicked  the 
chair  over,  snake  and  all,  cut  and  run,  and  have 
been  traveling  ever  since."  "Whew ! ! ! "  said  some 
fellow.  But  he  was  only  blowing  out  a  mouth  - 
full  of  smoke. 

But  speaking  of  snakes  reminds  me  of  Demo- 
crats. My  particular  friend,  Thomas  Jefferson 
Smith,  is  a  Democrat:  and  Thomas  has  a  theory, 
too,  about  the  weather.  He  was  favoring  me  with 
it  one  day  last  w^eek  somewhat  after  this  fashion. 
"You  know,"  so  he  was  pleased  to  begin,  "that 
these  bloody  aristocrats  in  town  here  wont  have 
anything  to  do  with  us  Loco-foco  lawyers.  Well, 
here  I  was,  sitting  in  my  office  all  spring  and  all 


APPENDIX.  273 

summer,  and  taking  in  no  fees  except  the  old 
clothes  that  I  got  from  the  jail  birds  for  defending 
them.  That  did  for  a  while.  My  landlady  took 
old  clothes  for  board  until  she  got  two  suits  apiece 
for  her  children  all  round,  and  a  winter  frock  for 
herself.  Twas  bright,  'twas  heavenly,  but  it 
wouldn't  last;  as  the  poet  says.  And  my  land- 
lady, says  she  to  me  one  day,  'Look  here,  Mr. 
Smith,  I  can't  afford  to  trade  any  longer!  so  you 
must  fork  wp  the  hard  every  Saturday  night,  or 
your  name's  Walker.'  "Well,  I  saw  how  it  was  go- 
ing to  be:  I  must  either  raise  the  wind  or  break 
up  my  interesting  domestic  relations.  The  elec- 
tion was  coming  on,  and  I  determined  to  stump  it 
for  the  sovereigns,  to  see  if  any  thing  would  come 
of  that.  Up  I  went  the  first  night,  with  my  speech 
all  learned  by  heart  for  fear  I  should  forget  it. 
Says  I  to  myself,  the  Lafayette  is  a  gone  sucker 
now;  and  the  Life  and  Trust  may  just  as  well  shut 
up  as  not.  Well,  I  mounted  the  stand,  and  was 
just  giving  them  a  broad-side  right  into  'em,  when 
a  chap  in  the  crowd  sings  out:  'Helloa!  Mister, 
vot's  your  name  ?  Tell  us  vere  you  got  your  brought- 
in  up,  and  all  about  it — let's  have  the  proper  docu- 
ments !'  Here  was  a  go!  It  felt  like  a  shower 
bath.  Well,  I  told  them  all  about  m}'self;  but  they 
kept  on  asking  question  after  question  for  as  much 
as  ten  minutes.  I  answered  them  all,  and  rolled 
up  my  sleeves  to  fire  away,  and  just  as  I  got  fairly 
into  the  Constitution  and  the  Eights  of  Man,  a  big 
fellow  gets  up  right  in  front  of  me,  and  sa}'S  he, 


274  APPENDIX. 

1  My  friend,  ono  more  question,  if  you1  re  agreeable 
to  it.  It  may  be  necessary  for  you  to  settle  one 
fact  of  considerable  importance  before  you  begin. 
So  will  you  have  the  kindness  to  inform  this  meet- 
ing whether  or  not  your  anxious  mother  really 
knows  you're  out?'  I  didn't  hear  any  more,  sir. 
I  pledge  you  my  word  I  didn't  run.  But  I  did  do 
some  of  the  tallest  walking  that  has  ever  been 
known  in  these  parts." 

"But  the  weather,  Tom,"  said  I,  "how  do  you 
account  for  all  the  rain  we've  had  lately?'1 

"Oh,  yes.  Why,  the  fact  of  the  business  is, 
that  the  sovereigns  '-rent  the  air'  so  with  their 
shouts  as  I  was  leaving  that  it  wont  hold  water 
any  longer,  and  the  showers  have  been  dripping 
through  the  holes  ever  since." 


GRAHAMISM. 

"  Could  a  Tartar  e'er  grow  cruel 
Coldly  fed  on  water  gruel  ? 
But  fancy  his  ferocious  force, 
If  lie  first  ride,  then  feed  upon  his  horse !  " 

"The  interests  of  humanity,"  says  a  modern  re- 
viewer exultingly,  "are  at  last  suspended  on  a  pot- 
hook." The  seething  cauldron  embodies  the  ele- 
ments of  the  progress  of  society.  The  simples  of 
the  cabbage  garden  contain  the  true  elixir  of  life. 
"All  flesh  is  grass,"  as  has  Ions:  ago  been  declared, 


APPENDIX.  275 

and  if  man  grows  it  must  be  grass  that  expands 
him. 

Such  are  the  promises  of  the  vegetable — now 
denominated  the  saw  dust,  now  the  graham,  now 
the  bran,  now  the  oatmeal  and  chips  theory.  Vitu- 
peration is  to  be  expected.  Every  great  discoverer 
treads,  of  course,  upon  the  toes  of  the  millions  of 
stupid  fellows,  who  have  gone  before  him.  But  it 
is  not  by  vituperation  that  a  theory  is  to  be  tested. 
It  is  by  what  it  has  done,  its  results,  achievements, 
by  truth,  reason  and  philosophy. 

Taken  in  this  light,  our  motto  affords  a  most 
convincing  and  enforcing  proof.  It  is  also  tri- 
umphantly illustrative  of  the  doctrine.  Let  me 
repeat, 

" Could  a  Tartar  e'er  grow  cruel, 
Coldly  fed  on  water  <miel  ?" 

Could  he?  The  idea  is  preposterous.  Fancy 
an  Arab  going  to  victory  on  a  stomach  full  of  oat- 
meal and  water.  I  know,  indeed,  of  one  instance 
of  a  hero  going  to  battle  on.  for  aught  that  ap- 
pears, vegetable  diet.  The  renowned  and  redoubt- 
ed "Wouter  Tan  Twiller,  who  went  forth,  as  is 
stated,  "brim  full  of  wrath  and  cabbage,"  but  it 
will  be  remembered  that  he  had  poor  luck — very 
poor  luck — as  the  historian  goes  on  to  show. 
What  might  it  not  have  been,  had  he  substituted 
for  the  cabbage,  pork,  or  mutton,  or  even  smoked 
ham? 


276  APPENDIX. 

Take  again  the  other  phase  of  the  theory.  The 
Tiniour,  the  Ghengis  Khans,  the  Mahmonds,  of 
Eastern  history,  evidently  traced  their  conquests 
by  means  of  their  beef  and  goats  milk.  We  know 
that  they  had  both  of  these,  and  we  are  well  war- 
ranted in  the  conclusion.  The  warlike  qualities 
became  transmitted.  It  is  true  an  ox  isn't  gen- 
erally considered  very  bellicose,  but  get  him  roused 
and  he  has  the  spirit  of  a  warrior.  Is  there  any 
gentleman  or  lady  present,  perhaps,  who  would 
face  a  mad  bull?  Goats  are  notoriously  belliger- 
ant.  They  wait  only  for  the  slightest  provocation. 
Just  shake  your  head  at  them,  and  they  are  sure  to 
come.  It  is  only  in  the  light  of  these  facts  that 
we  understand  history.  AVe  see  how  essential  it 
is  to  the  character  of  a  good  warrior  that  he  be  a 
good  trencherman.  AVe  understand  the  picture 
of  our  own  old  Barons, 

"  Who  cawed  at  their  meal 
With  gloves  of  steel, 
And  drank  the  red  wine  out  of  helmets  barred." 

These  rude  ages,  savage,  ferocious,  meat  eating, 
blood  thirsty  and  voracious,  are  gone.  We  com- 
miserate their  unhappy  state.  But  what  an  illu- 
mination has  succeeded  them !  men  have  become 
peaceful,  quiet,  tame,  submissive.  £s"o  longer  does 
the  Tartar,  in  the  impressive  language  quoted. 
"  first  ride,  then  feed  upon  his  horse/'  Since  the 
Graham  advent,  men  repose  in  quiet  under  the 
protection  of  a  bran  pudding.     They  rest  easy  by 


APPENDIX.  J77 

the  vigor  of  saw  dust.  They  go  on  their  courso 
of  indefinite  progress  under  the  impulse  of  inspir- 
ing oatmeal.  No  longer  does  the  milk  of  the  herds 
urge  frail  humanity  to  deadly  loggerheads.  No 
more  the  hind  leg  of  a  cow  impel  to  kicking  up 
one's  heels  in  frolicsome  disorder,  and  assaulting 
one's  neighbors.     Happy  age  !     Exalted  Graham  ! 


BAGS. 

"  Provide  yourselves  with  bags  that  wax  not 
old,"  says  the  Psalmist.*  I  wish  to  know  if  here 
is  not  a  command  as  plain  as  words  can  make  it, 
and  I  wish  to  ask  you  all — you  female  semi-colons 
(my  wife  among  them) — how  do  you  obey  this  in- 
junction? Can  you  reconcile  it  with  yoiw  con- 
sciences to  buy  such  quantities  as  you  have  done, 
of  silk  braid,  and  silk  floss,  and  linen  twine — and 
as  you  are  now  doing,  of  cruels  and  things  of  that 
sort?  I've  gone  on,  paying  and  paying,  why, 
bushels  would  not  measure  the  zephyr-worsteds, 
nor  yard  sticks  the  white  kite  string  that  I  have 
paid  for. 

My  mother  and  the  women  of  Iter  day,  they  pro- 
vided themselves  with  bags  (indigo  and  pudding) 
which  waxed  not  old — at  least  not  very  old,  and 
if  they  did,  they  were  just  as  good  if  not  better; 


*  Luke,  12th  ch.,  33  v. 

24 


278  APPENDIX. 

but  now-a-daySj  I  should  like  to  see  an  old  bag. 
Look  round  among  the  semi-colons  and  see  if  an 
old  bag  is  to  be  found ;  look  at  my  wife  and  daugh- 
ters— blue  and  salmon  grounds  with  little  flying 
arch-angcls  all  over  them;  there,  there's  where  my 
money  goes  to — I  keep  it  in  bags. 

I  don't  like  to  see  a  woman's  eyes  open  very 
wide,  so  I  don't  say  any  thing  about  this  at  home  ; 
and  to  have  a  woman  talk  loud  about  "niggardly"' 
and  "scrimping,"  and  pounce  down  upon  one  so 
for  smoking  cigars,  makes  me  glad  to  get  one  to 
calm  my  nerves;  for  I  can't  bear  to  see  any  one 
do  so;  it  sets  me  all  in  a  flutter,  and  I  can't  get 
used  to  it.  I  do  hope  they  will  not  adopt  the 
fashion  that  the  women  have  in  Paris — of  wearing 
daggers  at  their  girdles — if  they  do,  I  shall  cer- 
tainly leave  my  bed  and  board,  and  go  somewhere 
else. 

We  used  to  say  in  Paris  when  things  were  not 
right,  "Cui  bono?"  I  say  now  where's  the  use 
and  the  good  in  all  this?  It  costs  money  and 
takes  time ;  positively  I  have  not  had  my  best  wig- 
combed  for  a  month,  but  have  been  obliged  to 
wear  my  old  one,  because  there  is  not  time  for  me 
to  do  it  when  I  am  dressing  for  Church.  I  can 
tell  worse  things  than  that ;  and  if  you'll  go  out 
with  me  into  the  hall,  I'll  show  you  a  hole  in  my 
stocking  that  is  really  shocking.  I  do  not  say 
these  things  in  a  complaining  spirit ;  I  suppose  we 
get  along  as  well  as  most  married  people;  but 
what  does  my  wife  want  these  things  for?     I  don't 


APPENDIX.  27!) 

care  to  have  her  look  pretty  to  other  men,  but  to 
me — me — and  if  I  don't  like  new  bags  I  should 
think  that  it  was  enough  !  "  One  thing  at  a  time," 
was  the  motto  of  my  friend  ;  he  drank  first  the 
alkali  and  then  the  acid  of  a  soda  powder — the 
effect  was  astonishing.  I  might  go  on  and  say  that 
the  spirit  of  the  psalmist  was  intended  to  reach 
other  things  than  bags — but  one  thing  at  a  time. 
I  ask  all  to  reflect  upon  the  danger  of  bags — Judas 
had  a  bag,  and  what  did  he  do? 

I  shall  go  round  to  Mr.  Shillito  to-morrow,  and 
tell  him  not  to  let  my  wife  go  over  twenty-five 
hundred  dollars  a  year ;  that  I'm  determined  upon ; 
and  if  my  wife  does  not  heed  this  gentle  remon- 
strance, and  sew  me  up  neatly,  but  goes  on  getting 
more  and  more  bags,  why,  I'll  send  her  to — Bag- 
dad. 


"THE  MISERIES  OF  AX  ENGAGED  MAN !'' 

Yes,  thought  I  to  myself  the  other  night  at  Mrs. 
G.'s  Semi-Colon,  I  suppose  they  are  miseries;  real 
ones;  but  they  are  not  the  only  ones,  nor  the 
worst  in  this  life.  They  are  no  more  to  be  com- 
pared to  the  miseries  of  a  man  that  is  expected  to  be 
engaged  (and  don't  desire  to  be,  at  least,  not  yet) 
than  a  quiet,  peaceful  death  by  chloroform  or  char- 
coal, is  to  be  torn  by  wild  horses  or  broken  on  the 
wheel. 


280  APPENDIX. 

This  may  sound  extravagant  to  those  who  know 
nothing  of  my  experience,  and  perhaps  I  had 
better  illustrate  a  little. 

I  grew  up  to  manhood  with  an  unbounded  ad- 
miration, affection,  I  may  say,  adoration,  for  the 
female  sex;  having  no  sisters,  this  is,  perhaps,  not 
to  be  wondered  at.  I  have  always  felt  it  my  duty, 
as  well  as  my  privilege,  ever  since  I  came  to  man's 
estate,  (at  17  or  thereabouts,)  to  be  devoted  to 
them  in  season  and  out  of  season — some  of  my 
friends  say,  in  reason  and  out  of  reason,  too — and 
my  parents,  unwisely  as  I  now  think,  encouraged 
this  disposition — indeed  my  dear  departed  mother 
always  said  she  felt  perfectly  easy  about  her  Aug- 
ustus when  he  was  out  of  her  sight;  for  she  was 
sure  that  he  was  not  poisoning  his  hair  and  whis- 
kers with  smoke,  but  improving  his  mind  and 
morals  in  the  society  of  ladies.  The  dear  Avoman 
was  partly  right — I  certainly  know  many  things 
now  that  I  did  not  know  once,  and  I  learn'd  them 
from  women,  but  whether  the  knowledge  has  not 
cost  more  than  it  comes  to,  is  a  question  still  open 
for  discussion. 

In  common  with  most  other  young  Americans, 
particularly  "Western  ones,  I  have  been  in  the 
habit  of  devoting  my  summers  to  the  study  of  na- 
ture*— going  from  Saratoga  to  JSTahant,  from  Lake 
G-eorge  to  Cape  May,  from  Eye  Beach  to  Xewport, 
or  elsewhere  as  fancy  or  fashion  takes  me.     One 

*  Quero,  human  nature. 


APPENDIX.  281 

or  two  summers  ago  I  repaired  to  a  watering 
place,  somewhat  exhausted  by  a  winter  campaign 
of  more  than  usual  severity,  and  surfeited  by  a 
more  than  usual  quantity  of  moire  antique  and 
point  lace.  I  sighed  for  repose,  and  sweet  simpli- 
city— ringlets  and  white  muslin ;  and  shortly  after 
my  arrival,  was  attracted  by  the  singularly  sweet 
and  modest  appearance  of  a  young  lady,  who  I 
then  saw  for  the  first  time.  I  was  charmed,  too, 
with  her  unpretending  toilette — so  different  from 
those  of  the  belles  at  all  the  places  of  fashionable 
resort  which  I  had  hitherto  frequented.  I  was 
introduced — found  her  as  charming  as  she  appear- 
ed— became  acquainted  with  her  mamma,  3Irs. 
Brown,  a  dignified  lady,  who  had  known  my 
father  or  grandfather,  or  some  of  mv  ancestors — 
and  her  married  sisters,  who  were  pleasant,  chatty 
women,  rejoicing  in  all  the  diamonds  and  point 
lace  that  Louisa  (that  was  her  name)  eschewed. 
They  all  made  themselves  agreeable,  and  to  this 
day  I  do  n't  know  which  of  the  four  I  liked  best. 
However,  somehow,  it  seemed  to  be  expected  that  I 
should  devote  myself  to  Louisa,  as  the  others  were 
older  and  women  of  the  world,  and  able  to  take 
care  of  themselves.  So  I  walked  to  the  spring 
with  her  before  breakfast,  and  on  the  piazza  after 
breakfast,  and  complied  with  all  the  rules  and  re- 
gulations made  and  provided  for  the  government 
of  the  people  at  watering  places.  We  used  to 
talk  about  scenery  and  landscape,  and  all  that 
sort  of  thing,  and  I  found  she  had  never  visited 
24* 


282  APPENDIX. 

any  of  tli e    "lions'1    of  the   neighborhood.     Sol 
requested  permission  to  drive  her  to  visit  a  beau- 
tiful waterfall  a  few  miles  distant.     She  hesitated 
a  little,  which  I  rather  liked,  but  finally  said  that 
if  "mamma"  didn't  object,  she  would  like  to  go. 
"Mamma"  was  graciously  pleased  to  consent,  on 
condition  that  I  drove  very  carefully,  as  her  Louisa 
was  very  timid.     Of  course  I  promised  anything 
and  every  thing.     We  set  off — the.  day  was  heav- 
enly— the  road  admirable — my  companion  lovely 
— my  team  unequalled,  and  if  there  is  one  thing  I 
can  do  better  than  another,  it  is  drive.     This  day  I 
was  quite  inspired,  and  flatter  myself  I  talked  as 
well  as  I  drove.     ~\Ve  had  a  splendid  time,  and  I 
came  back  quite  satisfied  with  myself  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  world.      That  evening  was  the  usual 
weekly  "hop"  at  our  hotel,  and  as  in  duty  bound, 
I  requested  the  honor  of  Miss  Brown's  hand  for  a 
quadrille — the  evening  was  warm,  and  after  our 
set  was  over  I  proposed  a  stroll  on  the  piazza ;  in- 
sensibly our  promenade  extended  itself  down  the 
steps,  and  into  the  grounds  surrounding  the  house. 
Subdued  by  the  influence  of  the  glorious  summer 
night,  our  conversation  gradually  subsided   into 
silence,  and  we  walked  on  without  profaning  the 
hour  and  the   scenery  by  words.      I  was  startled 
from  a  reverie  by  a  half  suppressed  titter,  appar- 
ently proceeding  from  the  adjacent  shrubbery,  and 
when  my  senses  had  succeeded  in  bringing  them- 
selves to  the  level  of  earthly  things,  to  my  horror 
I  found  myself  clasping  a  small  white  hand  in 


APPENDIX.  283 

mine,  with  a  Avild,  vague,  dreamy  fear  that  I  bad 
actually  pressed  it  to  my  lips.  I  had  presence  of 
mind  enough  not  to  release  it  too  suddenly,  and 
as  just  then  a  turn  in  the  path  brought  us  under 
the  illuminated  windows  of  the  ball  room,  I  gath- 
ered courage  and  words  enough  to  ask  my  com- 
panion if  Ave  should  rejoin  the  dancers ;  to  which 
she  assented.  During  the  next  schottische  I  reflect- 
ed that  I  had  committed  no  unpardonable  sin — I 
had  kissed  fifty  women's  hands  before,  and  was 
none  the  worse  for  it,  and  if  there  had  been  any 
threatening  of  a  storm,  it  had  blown  over  without 
damage. 

The  next  morning  as  I  was  lounging  in  my  room 
wondering  what  I  should  do  and  where  I  should 
go  next,  when  I  was  startled  by  the  sound  of 
voices  in  the  room  adjoining  mine,  which  had  been 
vacant  ever  since  my  arrival  at  the  springs — as  it 
communicated  with  mine  by  a  door,  it  was  almost 
impossible  to  avoid  hearing  any  conversation 
which  was  carried  on  within  it,  and  it  now  seemed 
to  be  occupied  by  some  new  comers,  Avhom  the 
habitue's  of  the  house  Avere  enlightening  as  to 
matters  and  things  going  on  among  us.  "Mr.  De- 
lancy,"  said  a  strange  voice,  "oh,  yes,  I  knoAV  all 
about  him,  though  I  never  saAV  him — his  father  is 
a  millionaire,  and  he  is  an  only  child."  "Well," 
said  another  voice,  "so  we  heard  the  first  day  he 
came,  and  I  thought  it  must  be  true,  for  you  knoAV 
what  a  careful  mother  Mrs.  BroAAm  is."  lAAdiistled 
and  sung,  and  made  all  sorts  of  noises  to  let  my 


284  APPENDIX. 

neighbors  know  my  vicinity,  but  women  never 
hear  anybody  talk  but  themselves  when  there  is 
any  gossip  to  be  heard  or  told.  ""Well,"  said  a 
third  lady,  "Louisa  has  improved  her  time  well." 
"Yes,"  said  a  former  speaker,  "she  has  been  well 
brought  up.  Mrs.  Brown  is  an  excellent  mother, 
see  what  matches  her  other  girls  have  made." 
"  But,"  said  another  lady,  "is  it  quite  certain  that 
it  is  a  match?  Because  I've  heard  things  said 
about  Augustus  Delancy  before  that  never  came 
to  any  thing."  "Oh,"  said  a  fourth  lady,  "they 
do  say  he  proposed  during  their  drive  yesterday, 
and  my  Tom  saw  him  kiss  her  hand  in  the  garden 
last  evening."  "Well,"  said  another,  "it  is  a  very 
nice  thing  for  Louisa — but  my  dear  Mrs.  Smith 
you  promised  me  that  pattern."  *  *  * 
I  didn't  hear  farther — it  was  unnecessary — I  will 
not  attempt  to  express  my  feelings,  but  will  only 
say  that  the  next  mail  brought  me  letters  announ- 
cing the  dangerous  illness  of  my  mother,  or  my 
father's  failure,  or  some  other  shocking  news,  and 
the  2  o'clock  train  carried  me  Westward,  though 
I  did  not  draw  a  safe  breath  till  I  got  to  Cleve- 
land. I  came  home  and  recorded  an  oath  against 
sweet  simplicity  and  unsophisticated  innocence, 
and,  indeed,  against  all  marriageable  women 
whatever. 

The  next  summer,  of  course,  my  health  required 
the  relaxation  and  amusement  of  travel.  I  sought 
the  seashore,  and  made  one  of  the  throng  at  Na- 
hant.     I  kept  at  a  safe  distance  from  all  young 


APPENDIX.  285 

ladies — especially  those  who  looked  as  if  they  had 
just  come  out.      I  devoted  myself  exclusively  to 
married   women — respectable   heads   of  families. 
There  was  one  very  nice  little  artiele  there,  with 
three  of  the  sweetest  children  in  the  world,  per- 
fect cherubs.     As  a  general  thing  I  hate  children, 
but  these  were  such  nice  ones — never  cried — never 
had  dirty  aprons  or  faces,  and  never  were  in  the 
way  when  I  wished  to  devote  myself  to  the  mother 
— she  was  a  Mrs.  Higgins,  from   Boston,  and  as 
her  husband  chose  to  be  detained  in  town  by  busi- 
ness, like  many  others,  and  she  seemed  to  have 
nobody  in  particular  to  take  care  of  her  and  at- 
tend to  her  comforts  and  amusements,  I  got  into 
the  habit  of  lounging  by  her  side,  handing  her  in 
to  dinner,  walking  with  her  to  the  different  lions 
in  the  vicinity — Swallow's  Cave — Spouting  Horn, 
etc.,  and  in  fact,  looking  after  her  generally.     I 
don't  think  I  ever  felt   so  well  satisfied  with  my- 
self as  I  did  just  about  that  time,  I  knew  I  was 
keeping  out  of  scrapes — no  danger  of  getting  out 
of  the  frying  pan  into  the  fire;  or  rather,  out  of 
one  frying  pan  into  another,  as  I  had  so  often  done 
before.     I  was   clearly  in  the  way  of  my  duty — 
making  "myself  useful — I   couldn't  be  better  off 
than   in  the  society  of  a  lovely  woman,  not  too 
young,  and   in  no  danger  of  expecting  me  to  lay 
my  heart  and  hand  at  her  feet.     She  was  evidently 
very  much   attached  to  her  husband — referred  to 
his  tastes  and  opinions  on  all  occasions — wore  blue 
because  it  was  his  favorite  color — (singular  coin- 


286  APPENDIX. 

cidence!  it  was  also  mine!)  and  never  rode  be- 
cause she  had  once  been  thrown  from  her  horse, 
and  Mr.  H.  had  made  it  a  point  that  she  should 
never  mount  one  again.  I  was  having  a  good 
time  generally,  with  no  more  nonsense  about  it 
than  Fanny  Dorrit,  when  my  very  particular  and 
confidential  friend  Frank  Smith  arrived.  I  found 
him  in  my  room  after  I  returned  from  a  stroll  on 
the  beach  where  I  had  been  helping  Mrs.  II.  gather 
shells  to  take  home.  After  our  first  eager  greet- 
ings were  over,  ho  said  with  rather  a  disturbed 
look:  "But  'Gus,  what  is  this  I  hear  about  you? 
I  thought  you  had  sworn  off  from  the  fair  sex  for- 
ever." "Nonsense,"  said  I,  "I  never  intended  to 
give  up  the  sex — only  the  dangerous  part  of  it — 
I  've  been  a  pattern  of  prudence  since  I  've  been 
here."  "Oh,  well,"  said  he,  "some  folks  think 
widows  dangerous — I  do  myself — but  if  you  like 
that  sort  of  article,  and  don*t  object  to  the  chil- 
dren, I  don't  know  that  it's  any  of  my  business." 
"Widows!'1  ejaculated  I,  "what  do  you  mean? 
there  's  not  a  widow  within  fifty  miles  that  I  know 
of,  and  I'll  swear  that  I  never  treated  one  with 
decent  civility,  except  my  respectable  and  excel- 
lent grandmother.  I  've  kept  exclusively  with  the 
wives  since  I  've  been  here."  Fred,  gave  a  long, 
soft  whistle.  "What  do  you  mean  to  say  about 
your  attentions  to  Mrs.  Higgins,"  said  he.  "Say," 
replied  I,  "why  I  say  that  if  her  husband  doesn't 
find  fault  with  them,  I  don't  know  that  anybody 
else  has  any  right  to  do  it."     "  Her  husband,"  said 


APPENDIX.  287 

Fred,  "I  dare  say  the  poor  fellow  would  find  fault 
if  he  could — they  say  he  didn't  much  like  such 
things  formerly."  "Well,"  replied  I,  "if  lie  don't 
like  it  I'm  sorry,  but  then  why  can't  he  come 
down  at  least  once  a  week,  and  look  after  his  fam- 
ily. I  Ve  only  been  following  the  instincts  of  hu- 
manity, and  protecting  his  family,  while  he  staid 
in  Boston,  absorbed,  I  suppose,  in  mercenary  pur- 
suits.'1 "  Stayed  in  Boston!  "  exclaimed  Fred,  "is 
it  possible  that  you  arc  such  an  ass  as  not  to  know 
that  he  has  been  staying  in  Mt.  Auburn  these 
three  years,  with  a  ton  of  white  marble,  and  an 
inconsolable  inscription  over  him." 

Imagine  my  rage,  "the  deceitful  wretch  of  a 
woman!"  I  exclaimed,  "swindling  me  out  of  mv 
attentions  in  such  an  unprincipled  manner !  What 
on  earth  shall  I  do  ?  This  is  worse  than  the  Brown 
affair,  or  the  White,  or  the  Green,  or,  in  fact,  any 
of  the  other  scrapes  I've  worried  through. 

Well,  I  went  to  bed  and  sent  for  the  doctor — he 
came,  and  couldn't  decide  whether  I  had  small 
pox  or  scarlet  fever.  The  inhuman  brute  of  a 
landlord  turned  me  out  of  his  house  at  the  risk  of 
my  life.  I  took  the  steamer  next  morning  at  six 
o'clock.  Either  the  trip  or  some  thing  else  was  so 
beneficial  that  I  was  able  to  go  on  to  JSTew  York 
the  same  day.  and  ended  my  vacation  at  Cape 
May." 


APPENDIX 
V. 


CAPTAIN    SYMMES. 

At  the  period  of  Capt.  Footc's  arrival  in  Cin- 
cinnati, the  eccentric,  the  simple  hearted,  kind, 
and  benevolent  enthusiast,  Captain  John  Cleves 
Sy mines,  was  proclaiming  his  "  Theory  of  the 
Earth"  with  such  perfect  confidence  in  its  correct- 
ness that  one  could  hardly  avoid  sympathizing 
with  him,  and  wishing  him  success  in  his  endeav- 
ors to  make  the  world  believe  his  "theory." 

lie  drew  his  proofs  and  illustrations  from  every 
discovery  in  nature,  and  all  the  researches  of  trav- 
elers in  all  parts  of  the  world.  And  if  he  had 
possessed  the  requisites  of  eloquence,  except  that 
of  full  and  perfect  faith  in  his  own  doctrines,  (by 
the  bye,  its  most  important  quality,)  he  might 
have  become  a  heretic  in  physical  science  of  suffi- 
cient importance  to  have  equalled  in  fame  many 
of  those  setters  forth  of  strange  doctrines  in  phys- 
ics and  metaphysics,  who  have  made  their  names 


APPENDIX.  280 

known  in  the  scientific  world,  through  the  labored 
refutation  of  their  doctrines.* 

Capt.  Syinmes  being  at  this  time  in  the  full  tide 
of  enthusiastic  search,  calculated  largely  on  the 
aid  he  might  obtain  from  one  who  had  four  times 
passed  Cape  Horn,  and  was  a  man  of  observation, 
thinking  that  he  could  obtain  facts  enough  to  con- 
vince the  most  skeptical.  Iiis  enthusiastic  desire 
to  obtain  facts  from  the  Antarctic  regions  in  sup- 
port of  his  theory  was  so  strong,  that  it  was  quite 
painful  to  Capt.  Foote  to  disappoint  his  expecta- 
tions, and  to  be  able  only  to  furnish  facts  which 
opposed  instead  of  supporting  his  theory. 

It  was  quite  edifying  to  notice  the  ingenuity 
with  which  he  would  draw  his  proofs  from  cir- 
cumstances, which,  to  common  minds,  could  have 
no  bearing  whatever  on  the  subject. 

One  of  his  disciples  published  a  volume  contain- 
ing hist  facts  and  inferences  in  relation  to  this 
matter,  and  another,  J.  N".  Eeynolds,  who  possessed 
the  oratorical  powers  that  Capt.  Symmes  wanted, 
traveled  with  him  for  the  purpose  of  lecturing  on 


*  Thomas  J.  Matthews,  a  profound  mathematician,  and  a  man  of  exten- 
sive general  knowledge,  published  in  the  Cincinnati  Literary  Gazette,  a  ref- 
utation of  Symmes'  theory — a  refutation  which  the  personal  character  of 
Capt.  Symmes — not  that  of  his  theory — seemed  to  require. 

f  It  was  an  abstract  of  his  arguments  to  establish  the  "Theory  of  Con- 
centric Spheres,"  "demonstrating  that  the  eartli  is  hollow,  habitable  within 
and  widely  open  about  the  poles."  It  was  written  by  James  MeBride,  late 
of  Butler  County,  and  a  copy  was  taken  by  Mr.  Hall,  who  lately  went 
from  Cincinnati  on  a  Northern  exploring  expedition  in  search  of  relics  of 
Franklin's  expedition. 

25 


290  APPENDIX. 

the  subject,  in  order  to  obtain  means  to  send  out 
an  expedition  to  make  the  necessary  discoveries 
to  verify  the  "theory."  The  parties,  however, 
separated,  and  Mr.  .Reynolds  proceeded  alone  on 
his  tour,  changing  his  subject  from  the  investiga- 
tion of  facts  relative  to  Capt.  Symmes'  theory  to 
a  recommendation  of  an  expedition  to  the  South 
seas,  under  the  direction  of  government,  for  the 
objects  of  making  discoveries  generally,  in  the 
wide  regions  still  unexplored.  He  succeeded  in 
part,  but  did  not  cany  out  his  project  of  going  to 
the  Antarctic  "verge,"  as  Capt.  Symmes  styled  the 
commencement  of  the  opening  into  the  interior  of 
the  earth;  but  landed  in  Chili,  and  afterwards 
embarked  in  the  Frigate  Potomac,  commanded  by 
Commodore  Downes. 

Of  the  cruise  of  this  ship  he  published  quite  an 
interesting  account,  in  a  thick  octavo,  which  con- 
tained no  allusion  to  Symmes'  theory,  but  gave  an 
account  of  certain  chastisements  of  savages  for 
outrages  on  Americans,  which  have  tended  to  in- 
spire respect  for  the  ships  and  sailors  of  our  coun- 
try that  were  much  needed. 

Commodore  Wilkes'  expedition,  subsequently 
sent  out  by  our  government,  made  such  discov- 
eries in  the  Antarctic  regions  as  probably  settles 
the  question,  that  if  a  Southern  polar  ocean  or  con- 
tinent exists  we  can  not  get  to  it. 

The  discovery  of  the  Northern  Polar  basin,  by 
the  expedition  under  Dr.  Kane,  would  have  given 
to   Capt.   Symmes   "  confirmation  strong  as  proof 


APPENDIX.  291 

from  Holy  Writ,"  of  the  truth  of  his  theory.  If 
he  could  have  lived  long  enough  to  have  heard  of 
this  discovery,  it  would  have  proved  a  balm  for 
all  the  evils  of  life,  for  he  had  announced  its  exis- 
tence, and  indicated  almost  the  precise  locality  of 
its  position,  namely:  about  GO  miles  Xorth  of  82°. 

His  childlike  guilessness  was  a  remarkable  trait 
in  his  character,  and  being  combined  as  it  was 
with  a  courage  as  indomitable  as  it  was  quiet  and 
modest,  occasioned  some  singular  adventures  in  the 
course  of  his  life,  one  of  which  was  the  following : 

While  in  the  army,  his  artless,  unsuspicious 
manners  and  bearing,  was  thought  by  a  subordin- 
ate officer  to  constitute  him  a  suitable  butt'  for 
jokes,  that  were  so  apt  to  be  carried  beyond  the 
bounds  of  gentlemanly  forbearance,  that  some  of 
Caj)t.  Symmes'  friends  remonstrated  with  him  on 
the  impropriety  of  submitting  to  them  quietly. 
He,  said  he,  had  never  suspected  that  any  affront 
was  intended,  but  if  he  had  borne  any  remarks 
that  a  gentleman  ought  not  to  bear,  he  was  ready 
to  do  whatever  was  proper  in  the  matter,  and  asked 
his  friends  what  he  should  do.  They  told  him  he 
must  insult  the  officer  publicly,  and  be  prepared 
for  a  duel.  Accordingly  on  the  next  parade  he 
insulted  him  before  the  regiment,  drew  his  sword, 
and  told  him  to  defend  himself.  The  other  being 
an  unerring  shot  with  a  pistol,  declined  fighting 
with  swords,  and  appointed  a  meeting  to  settle  the 
affair  with  pistols.  They  met  accordingly,  and  as 
they  were  to  fire  simultaneously,  the  accomplished 


292  APPENDIX. 

duelist  endeavored  to  be  so  much  in  advance  of 
Capt.  Symmes,  as  to  settle  the  matter  by  hitting 
him  in  a  vital  part.  His  pistol  was  accordingly 
fired  while  Capt.  Symmes  was  raising  his,  and  the 
ball  striking  his  wrist  bone  at  the  moment  he  was 
pulling  the  trigger  of  his  pistol,  gave  it  such  a 
direction  that  the  ball  struck  the  other  on  the 
knee,  and  maimed  him  for  life.  He  became  after- 
ward very  poor,  and  Capt.  Symmes  maintained 
him  several  years,  and  until  he  died. 

At  the  time  when  the  settlement  of  the  Eussian 
bounclarv  in  North  America  was  made  known,  it 
gave  Capt.  Symmes  a  shock  of  distress  apparently 
as  great  as  that  occasioned  by  the  battle  of  Water- 
loo in  the  Buonaparte  family.  He  considered  that 
our  country  had  abandoned  a  portion  of  its  terri- 
tory, in  which  the  verge  was  situated,  by  which 
a  passage  into  the  interior  of  the  earth  was  prac- 
ticable; and  that  within  it  the  sun's  rays  were  so 
refracted  that  the  interior  would  be  found  much 
preferable  to  the  exterior  of  the  earth. 

The  Eussian  Consul  at  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Har- 
ris, transmitted  to  Capt.  Symmes  an  invitation 
from  Count  Eomanzoff  to  accompany  an  expedi- 
tion then  in  contemplation,  for  making  further 
researches  in  the  Arctic  regions ;  but  his  health 
had  become  too  feeble  to  allow  him  to  accept  the 
invitation. 

The  Captain  exhausted  all  his  property  in  efforts 
to  establish  his  theory,  and  died,  leaving  no  dis- 
ciple to  continue  his  researches. 


a.  if  ip  e  nsr  id  i  ix: 

VI. 


GENERAL    HARRISON. 


The  references  in  this  memoir  to  the  necessity 
of  understanding,  and  being  governed  in  our  choice 
by  the  characters  of  the  men  to  be  selected  for  our 
rulers,  do  not  relate  particularly  to  their  moral, 
pecuniary  honesty.  The  fears  that  there  could  be 
any  danger  of  robbery  of  the  public  monies  by 
public  officers,  are  of  comparatively  modern  date. 
But  when  the  spoils  of  victory  became  an  excite- 
ment to  partisan  efforts,  those  spoils  were  soon 
made  to  include  the  opportunities  for  plundering 
'   the  public  treasury. 

In  Ohio,  and  the  West  generally,  the  period  of 
common  honesty  among  government  om  con- 

tinued until  a  much  later  period  than  in 
the  other  States.     Alfred  Kelley  and  M  T. 

Williams  received  and  disbursed  some  mi  J  of 

the  public  funds  without  a  suspicion  entering  the 
mind  of  any  one  that  there  was  danger  of  any  de- 
falcation. 

25* 


294  APPENDIX. 

General  Harrison,  when  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency,  was  commended  for  his  truthfulness, 
his  kind-hearted  benevolence,  and  unbounded  hos- 
pitality, but  no  one  thought  it  necessary  to  speak 
of  his  scrupulous  honesty  in  relation  to  the  public 
funds  of  which  he  had  the  control — that  was  a 
matter  of  course.  The  following  circumstance  it 
was  not  necessary  to  relate  then,  but  now  it  may 
serve  to  show  how  much  men  and  circumstances 
have  changed,  and  how  necessary  it  was  for  Mr. 
Van  Buren  to  discover  that  it  was  possible  to  es- 
tablish places  of  safety  for  the  public  monies,  and 
to  endeavor  (unsuccessfully,  however,)  to  make 
treasuries  and  sub-treasuries,  thief-proof. 

As  Governor  of  the  Western  Territory,  and  In- 
dian Agent,  General  Harrison  had  for  many  years 
large  sums  of  money  constantly  in  his  hands,  and 
unrestricted  power  to  draw  on  the  government  to 
a  scarcely  limited  amount. 

On  one  occasion  he  wanted  a  sum  of  two  or 
three  thousand  dollars  for  his  private  use,  and  he 
had  at  that  time  about  thirty  thousand  dollars  of 
government  funds  in  his  possession,  but  it  never 
occurred  to  him  that  he  could  borrow  from  that 
fund.*  He  had  a  friend  living  at  a  distance  of  two 
or  three  days  journey,  (in  those  da}rs  of  slow 
travel,)  from  whom  he  Lad  reason  to  believe  he 


*  In  Hall's  Memoir  of  Gen.  Han-ison  it  is  said,  "  He  had  liberly  to  draw 
on  the  government  for  an  unlimited  amount.  During  the  war  he  drew  on 
the  government  for  more  than  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  public  pur- 
poses, not  one  cent  of  which  was  ever  directed  to  his  own  use." 

/ 


APPENDIX.  295 

could  obtain  a  loan  to  the  amount  necessary  for 
his  purposes.  He  took  the  journey,  borrowed  the 
money,  and  during  the  entire  continuance  of  the 
loan,  it  is  believed  that  he  had  a  large  amount  of 
the  public  monies  in  his  possession,  but  not,  as  he 
supposed,  under  his  control  for  any  but  public 
purposes.  Perhaps  if  this  had  been  known  to  the 
political  demagogues  during  the  electioneering 
campaign  of  1840,  it  might  have  been  used  by 
them  as  proof  of  the  unfitness  of  Harrison  for 
President  of  the  United  States.  It  would  have 
been  as  effective  as  the  circumstance  of  his  living 
in  a  log  cabin. 


.A.  IP  IP  E  IsT  ID  I IX 
VIZ. 


NOTES    AND    REFLECTION-. 

Memorials  of  the  dead  when  inscribed  on  costly 
monumental  marbles,  are  seldom  regarded  as  ob- 
jects which  are  to  furnish  lessons  of  life  to  the  liv- 
ing. But  those  which  are  inscribed  on  the  images 
of  our  biographical  literature,  if  they  do  not  teach 
such  lessons,  are  as  false  to  their  trust  as  those 
monuments,  which  have  generated  the  proverbial 
sarcasm,  to  "lie  like  a  tombstone."' 


To  the  young  men  of  New  England,  lessons  of 
industry,  frugality,  patience  and  perseverance  are 
taught  by  their  granite  rocks,  their  stubborn  soil, 
and  their  merciless  climate,  and  these  teachers 
furnish  some  of  the  inducements  which  tempt 
them  to  brave  the  dangers  of  the  seas.  For  the 
fears  which  we  might  expect  to  be  excited  by  the 
frequent    desolating    storms,    and    heart-rending 


APPENDIX.  _  '7 

shipwrecks  of  their   rock   bound   cc  seem  I 

have  no  restraining  influence  on  their  minds.     On 
the  contrary,  the  perils  of  the  Beas    -  em  to  1 
more  attractive  in  proportion  as  they  are  danger- 
ous. 

Perhaps  the  restless  disposition  which  - 
young  Yankees*  into  every  part  of  the  habitable 
world,  may.  in  part,  be  generated  by  their  climate 
— marked  as  it  is  by  frequent  and  violent  changee 
— and  also  by  the  varied  aspects  of  the  ocean 
along  their  shores.  The  seas,  indeed,  when  ex- 
hibiting their  bright,  peaceful  aspect  in  calms,  or 
when  o'entlv  ruffled  by  li^ht  breezes,  are  very  al- 
luring,  and  seem  to  give  fair  promises  to  the  en- 
terprising youth,  of  prosperous  and  happy  voy- 
ages, and  bani>h  the  remembrance  of  the  experi- 
ences which  in  anv  other  case  would  lead  them  to 
distrust  such  fair  promises.  For  the  bright  ocean 
when  in  it-  state  of  quiet  repose,  gives  them  no 
intimation  of  the  dangers  from  the  rocks  and 
shoals  beneath  its  surface,  nor  of  the  reservoir  of 
dreadful  storms  and  tempests  in  the  white  clouds 
and  blue  skies  over  their  heads  ;  but  rather  seems 
to  tell  in  Syren  songs,  of  pearls  and  precious  jewels 
in  its  depths,  and  glorious  brightness  and  prosper- 
ous breezes  above.  Thev  are  like  the  bright  as- 
pects  of  slavery,  as  we  have  seen  them  many  tin*  - 
exhibited  in  the  South,  where  a  patriarchial  care 


*  The  term  Yankee  is  general  abroad,  including  all  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  bat  at  home  is  specific,  being  restricted  to  citizens  of  New  England. 


298  APPENDIX. 

and  watchfulness  over  the  temporal  and  future 
happiness  of  the  slave,  was  repaid  by  a  love  and 
reverence  more  than  filial.*  These  scenes  of  love 
and  trust  make  us  forget  that  slavery  conceals 
rocks  on  which  our  most  cherished  possessions  are 
in  danger  of  being  wrecked,  and  tempests  of  fear- 
ful portent,  which  call  for  the  exercise  of  every 
faculty  of  mind  and  heart,  to  enable  us  to  steer  our 
ship  of  State  to  a  secure  harbor. 


The  dangers  to  seamen  of  winds  and  waves  are 
not  those  which  are  most  to  be  dreaded.  The 
Syrens  of  the  Mediteranean,  who  in  the  time  of 
Homer's  heroes,  were  accustomed  to  entice  sailors 
into  bad  company,  and  then  punish  them  for  go- 
ing there,  are  represented  in  our  seaports  by  those 


*  We  have  no  doubt  that  in  our  Southern  States  many  examples  might 
be  found,  of  attachment  between  masters  and  slaves,  similar  to  one  which 
remains  very  vivid  among  the  recollections  of  the  writer's  boyhood. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Newburgh,  near  New  Merlboro',  a  fugitive  from 
St.  Domingo,  Mr.  J.  J.  A.  Robart,  purchased  a  small  estate,  which  he  im- 
proved with  such  skill,  and  beautified  with  such  taste,  that  it  was  among 
the  curiosities  of  that  region. 

At  the  time  of  the  insurrection  in  the  above  named  island,  a  number  of 
his  slaves  exhibited  their  love  for  their  master  and  mistress,  not  only  in 
providing  means  of  escape  for  them,  and  saving  as  much  property  as  could 
be  carried  away,  but  in  refusing  to  be  separated  from  them,  although  it  re- 
quired the  abandonment  of  freedom,  and  their  beautiful  island,  for  the  (to 
them)  fearfully  cold  regions  of  the  North.  Mr.  Robart's  character  was 
such  as  might  be  expected  from  such  proofs  of  love  by  his  slaves.  His  wife 
was  a  most  beautiful  and  graceful  woman ;  such  a  one  apparently  as  the 
Empress  Josephine  must  have  been  from  the  accounts  given  of  her. 


APPENDIX.  299 

who  arc  quite  as  dangerous,  who  follow  their  ex- 
ample, devouring  the  sailors'  earnings,  debasing 
their  vocation,  and  unfitting  them  for  any  other 
pursuit.  The  example  of  the  subject  of  this  me- 
moir is  that  of  one  who  was  never  seduced  into 
bad  company  in  pursuit  of  pleasure,  though  often 
compelled  to  be  associated  therewith  by  the  re- 
quirements of  business.*  He  never  was  disquali- 
fied for  any  pursuit  which  circumstances  required 
him  to  adopt,  by  youthful  follies  and  careless  neg- 
lect of  the  opportunities  of  extensive  observation, 
which  teach  lessons  more  effective  than  those  of 
the  teachers  who  profess  to  teach  languages  and 
sciences  in  a  few  easy  lessons  without  a  master. 

Among  the  plans  of  that  class  of  benevolent 
Christians,  who,  in  modern  times  have  been  mak- 
ing exertions  to  ameliorate  the  character  and  con- 
dition of  seamen,  the  first  idea  very  naturally  and 
properly  was  to  provide  boarding  houses  for  them, 
where  they  might  live  exempt  from  the  tempta- 
tions that  more  easily  beset  them. 


*  At  the  period  iu  which  Mr.  Foote  was  embarrassed  by  pecuniary  diffi- 
culties in  Cincinnati,  his  characteristic  straight  forwardness  and  unreserved 
truthfulness,  confirmed  the  character  he  had  always  sustained.  "So  great," 
says  a  gentleman  who  was  President  of  one  of  the  banks  at  that  time,  "was 
the  confidence  in  Mr.  Foote's  honor  and  integritj-,  and  in  his  anxiety  to 
free  himself  from  debt,  that  no  requisition  as  to  time  or  amount  in  the  re- 
duction of  his  indebtedness,  further  than  suited  his  own  convenience,  was 
required  of  him  by  the  directors.  Their  confidence  in  him  was  perfect,  nor 
was  it  disappointed." 

The  same  gentleman  adds  :  "  he  suffered  a  loss  of  about  one  thousand  dol- 
lars rather  than  implicate  an  individual  who  might  possibly  be  innocent,1' 
one  who  had  a  family  dependent  on  his  labors  for  support. 


300  APPENDIX. 

Examples  of  success  by  the  due  exercise  of  in- 
dustry, with  patience  and  perseverance,  combined 
with  econonrv  and  self-control,  will  aid  as  a  safe- 
guard against  many  of  the  temptations  to  which 
they  are  exposed,  and  can  not  be  too  often  placed 
before  them.  Hope  with  all  seafaring,  as  with 
most  others,  is  constantly  gaining  victories  over 
fear,  but  disappointment  too  often  conquers  pa- 
tience and  perseverance,  generating  in  their  stead 
intemperance  and  carelessness  of  the  future. 

One  consequence  of  the  heedless  disregard  of 
the  teachings  of  experience  by  seamen,  and  of  its 
warning  by  merchants,  has  been  the  ruin  of  a 
great  proportion  of  the  latter  class;  men  whose 
talents  and  enterprise,  have  been  probably  the 
most  efficient  causes  of  the  rapid  progress  of  their 
country  in  that  career,  which  in  little  more  than 
half  a  century  has  raised  it  from  the  lowest  to  the 
highest  rank  among  nations. 


When  in  high  political  party  times  our  mer- 
chants were  accused  by  Southern  politicians  of  be- 
ing bought  by  "British  gold,"  and  John  Bandolph 
sneeringly  asked  in  Congress,  where  else  they  got 
the  capital  for  the  purchase  of  their  ships  and  car- 
goes— as  if  no  wealth  could  be  created  but  by  ne- 
gro slaves — he  was  answered  by  Mr.  Lloyd,  of 
Massachusetts,  that  they  obtained  it  by  honest  and 


APrENDIX.  301 

honorable  industry,  and  successful  commerce.  lie 
did  not  give  any  exemplifications,  but  lie  might 
have  given  many  like  the  following  : 

The  ship  Neptune  was  owned  by  a  number  of 
merchants  of  small  capital,  and  mechanics,  of 
Hartford  and  New  Haven,  and  was  fitted  out  for 
an  expedition  around  Cape  Horn.  She  carried 
nothing  but  young  men,*  (some  of  them  fresh 
graduates  from  Yale  College,)  with  their  provisions 
and  equipments.  "With  these  she  proceeded  to  the 
South  Sea  Islands,  where  by  the  labor  of  her  men 
alone,  she  obtained  a  cargo  of  seal  skins,  carried 
them  to  Canton,  where  they  were  sold,  and  the 
proceeds  invested  in  teas  and  silks  of  the  value  of 
four  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  New  York,  to 
which  port  she  returned  in  safety. 

Other  voyages,  some  to  the  North-west  coast  of 
America,  in  search  of  furs  for  the  China  market, 
and  others  to  various  places  in  the  Indian  and  Pa- 
cific oceans,  brought  great  additions  to  the  com- 
mercial capital  of  our  merchants,  and  aided  in 
giving  fresh  impulse,  and  opening  new  regions  to 
their  trade. 


The  pretext  for  the  robberies  of  neutrals  by  the 
European  belligerents,  by  which  they  were  made 


*  Capt.  Andrew  Mack,  formerly  of  this  city,  and  afterward  Collector  of 
the  Tort  of  Detroit,  was  one  of  them. 

26 


302  APPENDIX. 

to  differ  somewhat  in  appearance  from  the  old 
fashioned  system  of  piracy  and  buccaneering  was, 
on  the  part  of  the  British,  by  a  paper  blockade  of 
nearly  all  the  European  ports,  and  on  that  of 
France  by  Buonaparte's  "Continental  system," 
followed  by  the  British  "Orders  in  Council,"  were 
by  each  party  designed  to  obtain  the  spoils  of  suc- 
cessful war. 

An  English  political  writer  of  the  time  spoke 
of  the  robbery  of  neutrals  as  a  source  of  "plunder 
for  our  brave  tars,"  which  had  begun  to  fail  for 
the  want  of  enemies'  vessels  on  the  seas,  with  a 
glow  of  patriotism  like  that  excited  by  fresh  con- 
quests  in    India;  and   the    French    Government 
seemed  to  desire  to  excel  their  enemies  in  this  in- 
cident of  belligerent   operations  as   much   as   in 
killing,  burning  and  destroying  in  the  established 
modes  of  honorable  warfare.     America  had  been 
a  field  for  plunder  to  the  nations  of  Europe  from 
the  period  of  its  discovery ;  and  as  it  now  failed 
to  supply  the  usual  gold  and  silver  for  this  pur- 
pose, it  was  like  a  new  discovery  to  find  in  that 
country  a  people  who  had  acquired  wealth  which 
could  be  taken  from  them  as  easily  as  it  had  been 
taken  from  the  Aborigines,  and  wTith  as  little  re- 
gard  to  the  rights  of  the  owners.      The  British 
government  trusted  to  their  ships  to  find  and  ap- 
propriate their  share  of  the  spoils,  but  the  French, 
being  by  the  English  naval  supremacy  rendered 
powerless  at  sea,  contrived  to  obtain  their  share 
by  offering  inducements  to   neutrals   to  trade  at 


APPENDIX.  303 

their  ports,  and  making  prizes  of  them  on  their 
arrival. 

The  infamy  of  those  proceedings  has  since  been 
shared  by  our  own  government,  for  the  French, 
by  a  treaty  with  us,  made  reparation  in  part  for 
those  spoliations,  paying  to  our  government  cer- 
tain sums  agreed  on  for  this  purpose,  which  to  this 
day  have  not  been  transferred  to  their  rightful 
owners. 

The  enmity  of  both  parties  of  belligerents,  to- 
gether with  that  of  our  own  government,  which 
our  merchants  had  to  encounter,  it  might  have 
been  supposed  would  have  annihilated  the  com- 
merce of  any  nation,  and  especially  of  one  possess- 
ing such  boundless  agricultural  resources  as  the 
United  States.  And  this  would  probably  have 
been  the  case  in  any  nation  in  which  the  love  of 
freedom  and  of  commerce,  its  parent  and  offspring, 
had  not  been  so  early  and  strongly  developed.  In 
the  United  States  it  might  be  modified  by  circum- 
stances, but  could  not  be  entirely  suppressed. 

The  fearless  enterprise  of  our  merchants  con- 
tributed to  raise  up  that  indomitable  host  of  sea- 
men which  no  other  nation  has  ever  equalled. 
The  fame  of  our  whalemen  became  at  an  early 
period  so  great  that  the  French  government,  de- 
spairing of  ever  being  able  to  raise  such  seamen 
themselves,  invited  our  whaling  ships  to  sail  to 
and  from  their  ports,  and  special  privileges  and 
immunities  were  granted  to  induce  them  to  accept 


9 


04  APPENDIX. 


the  invitation,  which  some  of  them  did,  but  it  was 
an  unnatural  course,  and  soon  terminated. 

Our  trade  with  China  became  at  one  time  so  ex- 
tensive that  we  supplied  not  only  our  own  country 
with  Chinese  teas,  silks,  etc.,  but  also  some  por- 
tions of  Europe,  especially  Holland,  to  which 
country  some  of  our  ships  made  direct  voyages 
from  Canton,  although  she  had  been  formerly  so 
tenacious  of  her  trade  beyond  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  that  the  struggle  to  render  it  exclusive  to 
herself,  was  the  commencement  of  the  decline  and 
downfall  of  her  commerce  forever. 


The  course  of  our  commercial  prosperity  oper- 
ated on  us  as  a  nation  in  the  same  manner  that 
success  too  often  operates  on  individuals,  being 
followed  by  reverses  which  could  not  be  retrieved 
by  men  of  weak  minds  among  merchants — nor 
among  nations,  by  those  under  the  rule  of  weak 
statesmen  ;  such  countries  as  Venice,  Holland  and 
Portugal  for  instance. 

The  opposition  to  a  commercial  policy  for  our 
nation  began  with  the  transfer  of  political  power 
to  the  anti-federal  party,  led  by  Jefferson,  whose 
political  education  was  finished  in  France,  where 
hostility  to  England  was  nourished  as  the  first 
duty,  not  only  of  statesmen,  but  of  patriots  in  all 
classes;  and  England  being  considered  the  nurs- 


APPENDIX.  :>05 

ery  of  commerce,  inhabited  by  a  "  canaille  mar- 
chande"  it  was  regarded  as  one  of  her  attributes 
to  be  held  in  inimical  contempt.  The  enmity  of 
Southern  politicians  toward  England  led  to  a  simi- 
lar course,  when  they  lent  their  aid  to  suppress 
American  commerce. 


The  variety  of  denominations  and  sects  which 
the  Christian  religion  has  awakened  among  those 
nations  where  freedom  of  religious  discussion  is 
permitted,  has  been  one  of  the  causes,  and  a  very 
important  one,  of  the  more  rapid  progress  of  civil- 
ization and  improvement  in  all  the  arts  of  life, 
among  Protestant  Christian  nations  than  in  any 
others. 

The  efforts  which  have  been  made  to  establish 
uniformity  of  religious  belief,  have  retarded  mental 
growth  and  progress  in  all  matters.  In  the  United 
States,  where  a  greater  variety  of  Christian  de- 
nominations, and  more  perfect  freedom  of  religious 
opinion  exist  than  in  any  other  country,  greater 
progress  is  made  in  one  generation  than  in  pagan 
and  idolatrous  countries  in  centuries.  And  in  those 
Christian  nations  where  uniformity  of  belief  in 
creeds  and  dogmas  is  required,  and  dissent  pun- 
ished, a  proportionate  difference  in  progress  is  ob- 
served. Compare  the  progress  of  improvement  in 
the  arts  and  sciences  in  Spain,  Portugal  and  Italy 


306  APPENDIX. 

with  the  same  in  England  and  the  United  States, 
and  the  contrast  will  be  found  striking.  Every 
sect  and  denomination  in  endeavoring  to  make 
proselytes  by  reasoning  and  not  by  force,  contrib- 
ute to  mental  progress,  not  merely  in  metaphysi- 
cal and  theological  knowledge,  but  in  that  exercise 
of  mind  which  generates  improvements  in  matters 
of  which  theological  disputants  make  no  account. 
When  ever  it  is  attempted  to  propagate  the  Chris- 
tian religion  by  any  other  mode  than  that  of  coun- 
sel and  reasoning,  and  instruction,  it  destroys  its 
most  distinctive  characteristics,  which  are  com- 
prised in  one  little  word — Love. 


Success  is  always  deified  by  nations,  and  gener- 
ally by  individuals.  For  want  of  it,  Byng  was 
hung,  and  through  its  influence  Nelson  was  raised 
to  the  rank  of  a  demigod,  and  allowed  to  commit 
with  impunity  more  sins  than  any  extent  of  chari- 
ty can  cover.  It  enabled  him  to  blind  the  British 
nation  to  their  atrocities  so  completely,  that  he 
felt  as  if  it  made  him  so  superior  to  the  influences 
of  virtue  or  vice  on  character  and  reputation,  that 
he  dared  to  recommend  to  the  care  and  protection 
of  the  British  nation,  the  harlot  by  whose  wiles 
he  had  not  only  been  induced  to  abandon  the  wife 
of  his  youth,  but  to  commit  one  of  the  most  atro- 
cious murders  on  record. 


APPENDIX.  307 

By  recommending  examples  of  success  to  the 
consideration  of  the  young,  we  endeavor  to  make 
friends  of  the  mammon  of  unrighteousness,  in 
hopes  that  they  may  be  received  into  the  houses 
of  their  minds,  accompanied  by  industry  and  pru- 
dence, patience  and  perseverance,  and  that  the 
illusions  generated  by  the  success  of  criminals 
in  stations  so  exalted  as  to  be  above  human  pun- 
ishment, may  be  dispelled  by  the  lights  of  truth, 
of  sound  judgment,  and  just  appreciation  of  the 
nature  of  those  acts  which  confer  reputation  inde- 
pendent of  character. 


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